$1.9M Fine For Polar Park Construction Firm Over Subcontracting: AG

WORCESTER, MA — The construction company that built Polar Park in Worcester has agreed to pay a nearly $2 million fine for obfuscating the number of women and minority-owned firms hired as subcontractors, according to Attorney General Maura Healey.

The firm Gilbane/Hunt, a partnership between Providence-based Gilbane Building Company and Indianapolis-based Hunt Construction Group, overstated its commitment to hiring disadvantaged businesses in bidding documents, according to Healey.

As little as 1 percent of contracts were awarded to disadvantaged business owners in the construction of Polar Park — which cost $159 million, a record for a minor league ballpark. In bidding documents, Gilbane/Hunt said 20 percent of subcontractors would be women or minority-owned. The company later told the Worcester Redevelopment Authority, which awarded the Polar Park contract, that about 17 percent of subcontractors were disadvantaged.

"Based on the representations in Gilbane/Hunt’s bid, the WRA awarded Gilbane/Hunt the contract for the Polar Park project. Once the project was underway, however, Gilbane/Hunt did little to encourage W/MBE participation on the project and did not track where the project’s W/MBE spending stood with respect to the 20 percent goal," Healey's office said in a news release.

Gilbane/Hunt's $1.9 million fine will go to the state, but $500,000 will go back to Worcester. City Manager Eric Batista said the city's portion will go toward a new city initiative to boost minority and women-owned businesses, which was seeded with $550,000 from Worcester's federal pandemic stimulus allotment.