BJ's Wholesale Club New Store Construction
Grocery
New Store Construction
The Project
QPM was selected to oversee construction of a very unique retail construction project – a new ‘build-to-suit’ BJ’s Wholesale Club in Flushing, NY.
This new BJ’s location was only one of several vendors in a retail development that included three stories of ‘stacked’ retailers, two residential towers and over 1.2 million square feet of mall space – longer than a city block. BJ’s Wholesale Club was to be neighbored by other major retailers such as Target, Staples, Best Buy and Marshalls.
BJ’s internal workload was increasing and due to the time consumption of this complex new build project, they chose to outsource the project management for this initiative to QPM who could provide an experienced, dedicated project manager for the duration of the assignment.
The QPM Solution
BJ’s Wholesale Club was the first retailer to be under construction in this retail development. QPM needed to bring strong project management skills to assist in managing the developer and ensuring the schedule determined by BJ’s was met. In other words, BJ’s was not the developers only client or priority and QPM’s project manager helped serve as a focal point, on-site, to represent BJ’s interests on a daily basis.
BJ’s introduced two unique design features at this location (1) a prototype ‘Uno Express’ Food Court area design and (2) an Acorn Vac Wastewater Collection System that uses vacuum and air to transport condensate or wastewater through a network of overhead piping – there was no underground plumbing at this location.
Since the ‘Uno Express’ food court area was the first prototype design, QPM had to manage numerous field design changes – relocating equipment, electrical outlets, signage changes – up until the grand opening of the store. Additionally, the Acorn System required a great deal of on-site management, since it was the first site using the technology throughout the entire store. QPM’s ability to be on-site on a daily basis, offered BJ’s the needed supervision to handle these unique design items.
The QPM project manager assigned to this project had significant experience with New York City’s permitting and inspection requirements, and also brought strong union experience that proved invaluable in getting the project completed.
BJ’s had no pre-existing reporting protocol for an initiative of this type and chose to adopt Expesite for reporting. Fortunately, QPM was already familiar with the system and was able to use it immediately and begin tracking the project details.
QPM’s project managers brought great flexibility to BJ’s and were able to step in and manage the overflow items such as interior signage, as needed, the exterior signage elements, when the staff position handling that responsibility was eliminated and QPM was also able to provide contractor recommendations and hold a competitive bidding process for the floor finishing needs.
The Results
The site was completed in January 2010, and QPM was chosen to continue providing project management services on the next new build project in the NY area.
Using the QPM drawing review and change order review processes, QPM was able to negotiate a greatly reduced change order total for the project, saving BJ's Wholesale Club a significant amount of money. In addition, QPM's ability to monitor the change order work, lease documentation requirements and understanding of the fair market values for both labor and materials, the overall change order percentage for the project was approximately 0.5%, which is substantially lower than the industry average of 5% to 10% for a project of this type and size.
The QPM project manager received special recognition from the BJ’s Manager of Specialty Business for the extra attention and effort he provided on the ‘Uno Express’ Food Court to accommodate the last minute design changes, prior to the store opening.
QPM’s senior PM is continuing to work with the BJ’s staff to implement new and better processes for their construction initiatives going forward and will continue to provide cost savings recommendations to the BJ's team from their experiences with Flushing, NY.
