Theron Snype, Minority Business Director

Skansa/Trident JV recently awarded to Horus Construction Managers of Tampa, Fla., the largest contract to a minority owned firm ($13.4 million) given a Black-owned firm in the history of the state or City of Charleston, says Minority Business Enterprise Office Director Theron Snype.

The contract for plastering, drywall and masonry work in the $142 million Gailliard Auditorium reconstruction project represents a game-breaking event for the company that could take it to the next level in the construction arena, Snype said.

Although construction in the area tops billions of dollars worth of economic development, the $13 million contract to Horus Construction Managers is significant because it means the second generation African American-owned business will have the experience  of performing in a major project that enhances its portfolio and makes it competitive on the larger scale, Snype said.

The company is contracted to complete over one million square-feet of interior plastering and drywall and 600,000 sq.ft. of exterior masonry using a newly developed limestone finish that only a few companies are capable of installing. The work pushes the Florida-based company over the edge into a higher realm in the construction arena, Snype said. Other minority firms may get the same opportunity.

Orangeburg’s Minority-owned Paragon Builders has a $1.6 million contract with the project to provide site set-up trailers, decks, dumpsters and other general trades facilities, Snype said. Freeland Construction of North Charleston is one of the project’s on-site project managers.

Snype expects that many of the minority firms on his master list of minority contractors will be used in the project. Overall 20 percent of contracts are anticipated to be filled by minority contractors.

Snype said the Horus contract offers other benefits because most of the work will be performed by area businesses. Some 100 jobs are expected to be generated and filled through the local workforce, he said.