Letter from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to TopGolf regarding termination of development agreement to provide goal of 30 percent minority participation of $17.1 million construction of facility.
Letter from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to TopGolf regarding termination of development agreement to provide goal of 30 percent minority participation of $17.1 million construction of facility.
Letter from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to TopGolf regarding termination of development agreement to provide goal of 30 percent minority participation of $17.1 million construction of facility.
“"Y OF BIRMINGHAM
MAYOR RANDALL L, WOODFIN
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
‘May 28, 2019
Ms. Teri Kelly
Director of Tax
Topgolf
8750 N. Central Expressway
Suite 1200
Dallas, TX. 75321
Dear Ms. Kelly,
‘This letter is in reference to Topgol’s request for an incentive payment pursuant to the development
agreement between the City of Birmingham and Topgolf, dated December 21, 2016. You reached out
to the Senior Project Manager at the City, Mr. Griffin Lassiter, to request the incentive payment on
February 11, 2019. We replied to your inquiry with a letter from Josh Carpenter, Director of
Innovation and Economic Opportunity, dated February 19, 2019, The leer from Dz. Carpenter
requested a final isting of the company name, scope of work, and amount of payment to the general
contractor(s) and subcontractors involved in project site preparation and construction up to the date
of opening of the facility. This information was necessary to determine whether Topgolf and the
associated general contractor, ARCO Murray, engaged in a good-faith effort to include minority and
disadvantaged business subcontractors in the project’s construction phase, as specified in the
development agreement under section 3.15(b).
On March 27, 2019, you supplied Dr. Carpenter with accompanying documentation of ARCO
Murtay’s efforts to engage minority contractors in building the Topgolf Birmingham location. That
attached documentation showed $601,919.99 spent on sub-contracts with minority developers. In
response to Dr. Carpenter's inquiry, you informed us that the total building cost was “$17.1 million
‘and an additional $7.5 million was spent on other costs.” Consequently, minority contractors received
just 3.52% of the total spent on construction and 2.5% of the total project costs.
‘The minority contractor goal clearly established in the inclusion plan you developed with the
Birmingham Construction Industry Authority (BCIA) is attached to this letter. In that inclusion plan,
dated December 8, 2016, Topgolf, along with its general contractor ARCO Murray, agreed on a 30%
minority participation goal to build a Topgolf in Birmingham (please see the top of page 6 in the
attachment).
Since the overall cost to build the project was $17.1 million, and just $601,919.19 went to minority
contractors, Topgolf and ARCO Murray did not come close to reaching the agreed-upon goal. After
evaluating these facts and assessing all of the documentation provided to substantiate your incentive
710 NORTH 20TH SF. BIRMINGHAM, AL. 35203 205) 2542977 WWWBIRMINGHAMAL.GOVMs. Tesi Kelly
May 28, 2019
Page 2
request of $228,000 against the goals of the inclusion plan, my administration has determined that
Topgolf and ARCO Murray have failed to demonstrate any substantial level of effort to comply with
the expectations tepresented by Topgolf in its project agreement with the City of Birmingham.
‘Therefore, we are terminating the agreement.
Sincerely,
Randall Woo
Mayor
City of Birmingham
Cedric Sparks, Chief of Staff
Nicole King, City Attorney
Josh Carpenter, Ph.D., Director of Innovation and Economie Opportunity
Tene Dolphin, Deputy Director for Business Diversity and Opportunity
Griffin Lassiter, Senior Project Manager
Michael Bell, Executive Director, Birmingham Construction Industry Authority