The state of Tennessee is hiring nearly 20 contractors to build a massive, $415 million law enforcement training center on state property in northwest Nashville.
Tennessee officials broke ground recently at the 600-acre site in the Cockrill Bend of the Cumberland River, joined by law enforcement leaders from across the state, close to the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution where Tennessee's death row inmates are housed.
Offices for both the Volunteer State's Department of Correction and Department of Safety and Homeland Security are planned to be relocated to the new facility, along with training facilities for state troopers and officers, including dorms, a driving track and K-9 kennels.
"This site represents one of the best examples of inter-agency cooperation Tennessee has ever seen," Brandon Gibson, chief operating officer for Gov. Bill Lee, said at the project's recent groundbreaking ceremony. "It represents the future of law enforcement training in Tennessee, and this site represents the governor's and the General Assembly's dedication to law enforcement in this state."
Tennessee Lookout, an online news site covering politics and policy in the state, reported Oct. 12 that Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, both members of the State Building Commission, supported the project, and Gov. Bill Lee credited their backing with helping to fund it.
Sexton noted it provides a "long-term vision" for the future of law enforcement training.
Lee said he started touring law enforcement training facilities statewide to check on conditions after he took office nearly five years ago.
"I remember walking through facilities where tiles were missing, and 40-year-old bathrooms and bunk rooms that I wouldn't want to stay in, and I got a vision that day, almost four and a half years ago, that we needed to do something different," Lee explained.
Though the governor appeared to take responsibility for birthing the project, the state Department of General Services (DGS) started work on the law enforcement training center before Lee came into office.
Besides the law enforcement training center, the Lee Administration put $150 million into a violent crime prevention fund, $60 million toward state trooper bonuses and funding to hire 200 more highway patrol officers.
A portion of the property lies within the floodplain of the Cumberland River, but the state does not plan to construct any major buildings in those areas, and other steps are being taken to minimize the impact of a potential flood, according to Michelle Sandes Parks, a spokesperson of the Tennessee Department of General Services (DGS).
Experienced Contractors, Designers on Board
Tennessee Lookout learned that the state opted to go with multiple construction managers based on efficiency and risk management. It also hired several design firms because of the size of the job and its specialized components such as housing, dining, infrastructure, and various simulated training areas that required expert knowledge.
Breaking the overall effort into "smaller sub-projects" allows the state to evaluate designers and construction managers for each section, said Parks.
The method also allows Tennessee officials to bring in the contractors earlier to help with design elements such as "constructability," as well as obtaining materials, putting together estimates, and scheduling to minimize risks on timing and costs, she explained.
"In the end, there is no guarantee that a single construction manager, or even the use of a different delivery method, would cost the state less," Parks said in a statement.
Kline Swinney Associates is slated to do the master planning and coordination for the entire project, while EnSafe Environmental is conducting environmental studies and testing. Smith Seckman Reid also is involved in commissioning and testing. All three firms are located in Nashville.
Tennessee is employing a construction manager method for the project where the state negotiates a cost with a contractor, which then works with the designer to complete the job, taking on a bit more risk. Because of the project's scope, construction managers are being used on every facet.
The construction cost of the law enforcement training center is $287.8 million, Tennessee Lookout reported.
The state put $23 million in the fiscal 2021-22 budget and $355.6 million in the fiscal 2022-23 budget for the building project. Another $5 million is coming from the Tennessee DGS operating funds, while a state reserve fund will kick in an additional $31.5 million.
While DGS was unable to provide a breakdown of the amount it will be paying each contractor, it did release a list of the major firms that will work on the various components that will make up the extensive Cockrill Bend project:
- Dallas, Texas-based AECOM, and Barge Civil Associates in Nashville will handle design for the facility's infrastructure and site work. The demolition specialists for the project are from Environmental Abatement Inc., with offices in nearby Hendersonville, Tenn.
- Kline Swinney Associates has also been contracted to design a firing range complex, and Nashville's Reeves + Young was approved for construction management.
- TMPartners, an architectural firm in Brentwood, Tenn., is designing the training academy building, and Atlanta's Turner Construction will handle that part of the project's construction management.
- Earl Swensson Associates, located in the Music City, is in charge of designing the housing, dining, and kennel building, with Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction acting as the construction management contractor at that site.
- Memphis-based The Pickering Firm is tasked with providing a design for a track on which to train emergency vehicle operators; the construction management contractor has not been hired.
- Another Nashville firm, Anecdote Architectural Experiences, won the contract to design the headquarters building for the Tennessee law enforcement training center itself, while Messer Construction in Nashville will be the construction manager.
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