BCG International Leads Park Laurel Design and Construction Teams

San Diego Business Journal, April 16, 2001 by Lee Boyd, Aimee Cebulski

Preparations are well underway for groundbreaking on the new Park Laurel on the Prado, one of the most anticipated new developments in San Diego County. At the project's inception, the developer turned to Lee Boyd and BCG International to help spearhead the project management of the 500,000 square foot complex. The twin towers, designed by Austin Veum Robbins Parshalle, will consist of 94 luxury residences and townhomes on Sixth Avenue across from Balboa Park.

"As we began conceptual design last year, we recognized that Park Laurel's complexities would encompass many challenging design and construction issues," said Robert Lawrence, principal of Park Laurel, LLC., developers of the towers. "From the beginning, we retained Lee Boyd to provide the well-rounded project management expertise that is a proactive measure against the typical cost and schedule overruns and communication challenges that can arise with a large construction project such as this," he added.

"The entire team management and communication structure has been excellent and BCG has met our every expectation. Lee established our fixed construction budget early in schematic design and orchestrated creation of the demanding 14 month, Phase 1 construction schedule," said Lawrence. "The construction cost controls established almost one year ago are intact and development goals have been maintained through rigorous tracking from BCG," he added.

Founded in 1987 by Lee Boyd, BCG International, a leading project management firm in San Diego County, divides its services into three distinct categories: Full Service Project Management, Specific Task Management and Troubleshooting. Company President Lee Boyd oversees day-to-day management of all projects in the BCG portfolio, bringing tough-minded solutions and executive experience to each one.

Within the project management discipline, BCG International offers several service areas. Feasibility research is conducted through Boyd's extensive knowledge of the construction, design and development industries. BCG can create a conceptual development model using an individual company's criteria and provide accurate cost and time studies from prevailing market data. This feasibility study can be a massive time and expense saver, allowing developers to correct potential cash flow issues well before construction is underway. Value engineering and team management during design is another service in which BCG excels as result of Boyd's extensive experience in this area.

As in the case of Park Laurel, Boyd is responsible for integrating all design and construction members of the team to provide coordination and control of the development goals. "Oftentimes, holdups with approvals on various stages of development can severely hamper the overall budget of a project," said Lee Boyd. "One of the greatest values I can bring to a project is working hard to ensure that no steps are forgotten or fall through the cracks and setting up a management structure so construction schedules and budgets are met," he said.

Contractors also see the value of Boyd and BCG. "Working with BCG on Park Laurel and other projects has been a positive experience for Nielsen Dillingham Builders," said Larry Geiser, president of Neilsen Dillingham. "Lee is a savvy and industry-tested professional who knows how to work with the builders to get a project completed on time and on budget. He knows the details of the development and construction business."

Michael Bolen, president of McCarthy Construction Company, says that Boyd's, "ability to manage and motivate a diverse collection of real estate professionals, architects, consultants, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers to collectively achieve a projects' goals and objectives is one of his greatest strengths."

Clients and designers appear to agree with the need for a "big picture" look at the whole project to identify potential problems. "I found Lee to be particularly talented not only in developing concepts for projects, but more importantly in anticipating problems that are likely to occur in the development of plans and during construction," said Robert Englekirk of Robert Englekirk Consulting Structural Engineers, Inc.

"Being a successful Project Manager is similar to being a master carpenter -- the good ones measure twice and cut once to ensure the job is completed properly," said Boyd. "By looking at the entire scope from the beginning and attempting to identify any pitfalls before work begins, many developers will save ten times what they spend on an experienced project manager in terms of total project cost" added Boyd.

Boyd entered the real estate design, consulting and management field in the late 1960s after graduation from Texas A&M University and spent his early career in construction in Texas, South America and Spain. From there, Boyd took that field experience to serve as a general manager of a precast concrete company and construction executive in the development business. During his tenure at Gerald D. Hines Interests in Houston, he was responsible for the conceptual design and construction management on several large-scale developments across the United States from low rise build to suit office parks to multimillion dollar high rise and mixed use towers.