Obama Presidential Center's Black-owned construction companies hope for lasting legacy

Four Black-owned construction firms joined forces with a fifth company to create a model never seen before in the industry and oversee the construction of the newly opened Obama Presidential Center. Now they're hoping to leave behind a lasting legacy.

The dream of what eventually became Lakeside Alliance started while President Barack Obama was still in office. A 2015 lunch meeting between construction competitors turned foes into family.

"We all became one big working family," said Kelly Powers Baria, executive vice president at Powers & Sons Construction, which teamed up with Brown & Momen, Safeway Construction, UJAMAA Construction, and Turner Construction Company to form Lakeside Alliance. "Ten years ago, we would've thought of ourselves much more as competitors."

Baria represents the third generation of Powers & Sons. It was her father's idea to go big on a bid for the Obama Presidential Center project by collaborating with other construction firms – specifically Black-owned companies, like Jimmy Akintonde's UJAMAA Construction.

 "We needed to be not just be part of the construction process, we needed to lead it, and that was his idea, and that's when he planted it in my head. I thought he was a little crazy," Akintonde said.

Crazy because such an alliance was unheard of. The four minority contractors are rivals turned revolutionizers.

On their own, they wouldn't have been hired for this large of a job, because their businesses were too small.

"There are limitations up to a certain point," said Ernest Brown, founder of Brown & Momen.

So the four companies pooled their talent, resources, and experience to make it happen.

"Everyone's path to get here was different, so everyone's past experience and what they could bring to the table was different," Baria said.

Turner Construction helped navigate those challenges as the fifth founding member of Lakeside Alliance. The megafirm books billions of dollars of work a year: airports, hotels, data centers, and more.

"This is a generational project. Because of the complexity of the building – the building's complex, the building is you know, very high quality, but it's also who the building is for and what that represents," said Junisa Brima, vice president and construction executive at Turner Construction.

The huge undertaking with not one but five companies in charge meant a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

"That added some complexity, for a bunch of company cultures coming together, but it also added to the sense of one team," Brima said.

Akintonde said Lakeside Alliance proved they could collaborate successfully on such a large project. The team shrugs off criticism that the end result was overbudget and overdue. The project initially was estimated to cost $500 million and to be completed in 2021, but by selecting historic Jackson Park for the site of the center led to a lengthy federal review process and legal challenges. The cost of the project ended up being $850 million.

"There are adjustments on any project. I don'ot care how small or large it is," Brown said.

Lakeside Alliance said they're focused on and proud of what they accomplished together. It's a list that'll keep growing as the team takes on other projects.

"The idea of collaboration, especially when it's lived, it's a really nice thing to have," Akintonde said. "It's an industry future."

 A future full of representation that they hope young eyes will notice.

Safeway Construction CEO John W. Bonds, sadly, did not live to see the Obama Presidential Center completed. He passed away last year, but Lakeside Alliance said he was an integral part of the team, who had an uncanny ability to get them laughing whenever something went wrong.