WS Chronicle

I.L. Long  Construction Co. has been named the general contractor for the new Experiment in Self-Reliance (ESR) headquarters and Mechanics and Farmers Bank has been chosen to underwrite the loan.

The groundbreaking for the facility will be May 2 at 10 a.m. and construction is expected to be completed in approximately one year.

ESR, an agency dedicated to helping low-income working individuals and families achieve self-sufficiency, announced a $2.7 million capital campaign to fund construction in November.  The new headquarters will be a one-story, 19,000-square-foot facility located on a 2.17 acre parcel of land at 3480 Dominion St., on the corner of Reynolds Boulevard. Peterson/Gordon Architects, P.A. designed the building.

I.L. Long was one of six general contractors who were pre-qualified to bid on the project. ESR used a bidding process similar to one that the City of Winston-Salem uses for its building projects.  A component of the process requires a minimum of 10 percent of the contract being awarded to subcontractors who are qualified under the city’s Minority and Women Business Enterprise Program guidelines.

ESR Executive Director Twana Wellman-Roebuck said that approximately 20 contractors’ qualifications were reviewed and that the bidding among the six finalists was very competitive.

“We are pleased to start the construction phase of the project so that our staff can serve clients in a building that will be more efficient and better suited to the operations of ESR,” she said. “Our goal all along this multi-year process was to relocate ESR to an area that would be conveniently located for our clients and that is close to our collaborators such as Goodwill Industries, the Red Cross, Senior Services,  Financial Pathways of the Piedmont and Crisis Control. It is close to Wake Forest University, from which we receive many volunteers and interns, and plan to recruit more.”

Wellman says ultimately the new space will allow the agency to better serve its clients.

“This new home office will improve our efficiency and ability to serve both current and future clients,” she said. “It will allow us to consolidate many of our services, now scattered among a number of satellite offices, into one location just two blocks from U.S. 52, convenient by both car and bus route for the clients we serve.”