On project for two years
By Alvin A. Reid of the American
TSI Engineering, an African-American owned firm, got in on the ground floor of the St. Louis Pinnacle Entertainment project.
In fact, TSI has been involved with the casino and entertainment long before it started taking shape on the north end of Laclede’s Landing on the Riverfront.
“We’ve been fortunate that many of our services have been used,” said Morris E. Hervey, Jr., a TSI principal along with his wife, Denise B. Hervey.
“The company actually began doing ‘due diligence’ work back in 2004.”
The firm offers geotechnical and environmental engineering, construction observation and testing services.
“No doubt, this has been a great experience,” said Denise Hervey.
“It is great to be part of a high-profile project.”
Founded in 1989 by the Herveys, TSI’s staff has grown to 25 people. Six to 10 employees will “touch the project” at the downtown site, but most of the firm will become involved.
“We take the samples back from the guys in the field back to the people at the lab. Of course, accounting is involved in everything,” Morris Hervey said.
Some of TSI’s work has been in partnership with larger firms, and some has been done directly for Pinnacle.
The business relationship between TSI and Pinnacle is exactly what the firm wants to see throughout construction of the downtown project, and also the casino entertainment project in the Lemay area of St. Louis County.
Since Pinnacle projects are privately owned and not receiving any public subsidy, the company is not mandated to follow the mayor’s executive order of 25 percent minority participation.
“But we use it as what we want to reach as a goal,” said Harry Moppins, Pinnacle minority/women/disadvantaged business enterprise compliance officer.
“Right now, the city project is at 19 percent minority participation. The Lemay project is at 35 percent, although we are just really getting started there.
“As we let bid packages, we are making sure we include women and minority owned companies.”
Pinnacle hosted an outreach reception on August 17, which attracted representatives of more than 60 minority and women-owned companies.
McCarthy Construction, the general contractor for the $400 million project, has six representatives at the outreach session “and people got a chance to talk one-on-one,” Moppins said.
Morris Hervey said that there has been minority participation “from day one.”
Denise Hervey called the relationship “a good fit.”
Both said that Pinnacle’s commitment to minority participation has been equal to that of the ongoing St. Louis Lambert International Airport expansion and construction of the St. Louis Cardinals new stadium
“Pinnacle is right in there,” Morris Hervey said.
From almost anywhere in downtown St. Louis, the Laclede’s Landing project can be spotted as it begins to climb toward the sky.
The downtown hotel, casino and spa development celebrated its groundbreaking last September and it includes purchasing and refurbishing an Embassy Suites hotel.
Scheduled to open in 2008, the $375 million Lemay project includes a casino hotel and the cost of reclaiming the former industrial site, building a four-lane road into the property and creating a county park on the site.