Flintco Receives Contract from GSA to Build New Federal Campus

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Tulsa-based Flintco Inc. has been selected to build a replacement for the federal building destroyed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. <br><br>Flintco Inc., the largest American Indian-owned

Tuesday, October 16th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Tulsa-based Flintco Inc. has been selected to build a replacement for the federal building destroyed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Flintco Inc., the largest American Indian-owned construction company in the United States, has been given a contract for the $40 million project, the U.S. General Services Administration said Monday.

Flintco expects to start construction before year's end and the project should be completed by summer 2003.

``We are very excited,'' said Mark Grimes, Flintco's senior vice president. ``When we were negotiating for the project, we told them it should be built by an Oklahoma contractor.

``It probably didn't have anything to do with it, but it is an important issue to a lot of people. I guess we ended up with the best overall deal for them.''

Design work started in late 1995.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial occupies the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which workers demolished after the April 19, 1995 bombing that killed 168 people.

``Watching this new building take shape is important to Oklahoma City, as another sign of overcoming the adversity of terrorism,'' said U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., who sought funding for the project and chairs the subcommittee funding it.

``It's a key part of the new vibrancy in downtown Oklahoma City and will spur other new development in an area that greatly needs it.''

At first, the plans called for a four-block federal office park containing three buildings. Then the plans were refined to just one building inside an office park that will cover two square blocks, beginning one block north and west of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and adjacent to the bombing memorial center museum.

The building will be designed according to recommendations from a U.S. Department of Justice study to include setbacks from the streets, earthen barriers, trees, posts and other security measures.