Friday, October 07, 2011

They did merge

So it looks like Picke's (originally an HSOA/Fradella subsidiary) assets were dumped into Bennett's Associated Contractors.



I knew this but I couldn't remember exactly what happened.  I surmise once Fradella got tagged by the SEC, he dumped all his Picke contracts, I think mostly N.O. contracts, into Associated Contractors.

I believe Picke was the HSOA company who originally had the airport contract, the Picke website is no longer:

Anonymous to me
show details 9:51 am (1 day ago)
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "All Roads Lead to HSOA?":

http://pickeconstruction.com

It is a beautiful website. It looks professional and polished. The writing on it is a little nauseating. Were it not for the news stories about money problems and lawsuits, I'd be impressed by them at first glance.

Under investors they tell you they area wholly owed subsidiary of Home Solutions of America. They say they work on the Gulf Coast, but all their projects are in New Orleans, and most of them seem to involve getting government contracts. And they DO have a multi-million dollar contract out at the airport.

Under the projects heading, they tell you right up front:

French Market Shed Renovation
$6 905 834

Orleans Parish Prison
$1 779 771

Louis Armstrong International Airport
$4 324 555

New Orleans Public School
$20 739 176

French Quarter Sidewalks
$ 750 000

Tulane University-- Emergency Temporary Housing
$1 502 232

Would someone check my math, please, because I think that adds up to $36 001 568.

That is a lot of public money to entrust to a company that seems to have big problems.




Does anyone know what happened with that airport contract?  I thought we ended up in a lawsuit against Picke but I don't remember if it was settled or what.  Any help?

I admit....this one fell into the memory hole.  I never followed up to find out what went on with that airport contract.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, you have these already, right?

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/08/crimecamera_case_has_a_tangled.html

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/09/bright_french_market_renovatio.html

Jason Brad Berry said...

Yeah....I do. I don't think any MSM resource ever followed up on that airport contract. I'm really curious to see what happened with it.

Anonymous said...

About 2423 Bainbridge, it is best described as a "strip mall" but that's being polite. According to the TP in the past a body was found in a dumpster there and on another occasion two counterfeiters were busted doing business there (different suite than Picke though, Ste. 100 as opposed to next door at Ste. 101). The building is dingy, overgrown, looks unused and is literally right on the airport, that is behind it and across from the street from it, looking right at it. It is pretty hard to imagine any real business working out of there.


Not much on Picke, but lots on "HOME SOLUTIONS RESTORATION OF LOUISIANA, INC.":

Do you have this article?

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/12/insurance_department_sues_meta.html

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060411005642/en/Home-Solutions-America-Awarded-Initial-Contracts-Worth

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Home+Solutions+of+America+Subsidiary+Selected+For+$12+Million+in+New...-a0168060636

"The Jefferson Parish Council ...

Other actions by the council Wednesday: ... Renovation work: Accepted a low bid from Home Solutions Restoration of Louisiana to perform renovations to the Salvador A. Liberto Building for $469,400." -- 9/21/07 TP

--- About the above, that's the second contract mentioned in the west bank JP district, one being Westwego, the other being the Liberto building (which = Councilman Chris Roberts).

Did you know about the Pirates Alley contract?

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20080111/ai_n21199776/


Er, about pumping up stock prices:

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/disaster_rebuilder_faces_storm.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20080128/ai_n21217108/

Jason Brad Berry said...

Yeah we've covered all of that here with the exception of the Chris Roberts connection.

Jason Brad Berry said...

I"m specifically interested in what happened with that airport contract...there's a good reason why but I don't want to talk about it until I know what happened.

Anonymous said...

As an aside, the property ownesrhip and parcel / description information for 2423 Bainbridge St Kenner is strangely not available on the JP Assessors site. It's one thing for the address not to pop up in the assessor site, it's a whole other for the property to have absolutely no description info, this is what turns up:

"Address: 2423 BAINBRIDGE ST
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lot: N/A
Square: N/A
Section: N/A
Subdivision: N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Area: KENNER
Zip Code: 70062
Neighborhood: CITY OF KENNER
Council District: 3 - BYRON LEE "

This may be a topic for another day (or these parcels could be related, who knows, because there are a lot of them) but the property ***right next door 2501 Bainbridge St Kenner shows up with absolutely ZERO assessed value (though obviously having a lot of structures and work on it):

"Parcel# Owner Location Description Assessment Action

3923110751 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3923110755 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3822313271 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3701410110 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3430884503 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3420832373 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3420835282 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3300507545 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3200312772 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3100129862 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3100129864 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0"

And if you look up M&M Gaming it is owned by none other than John Georges.

The zero assessments in JP for some major properties is something that ha turned up on Slabbed before.

Just an fyi, but those are a lot of parcels, it is the property next door and again there is no ownership or description info for 2423 Bainbridge itself so who knows.

Anonymous said...

8/28/07 TP - the contract to Home Sol. is reported, for the airport but also 12 mill for a whole bunch of stuff.

1/16/08 TP says - "...Home Solutions specializes in reconstruction after disasters, and a hefty portion of its business is local. It holds contracts worth nearly $50 million in and around New Orleans: renovating a concourse at Louis Armstrong International Airport ... "

But the 3/17/10 NO CityBusiness says: "Construction will being at the end of this month on a $16.8 expansion of Concourse D at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport , airport officials said today.

The airport is scheduled to hold a kickoff ceremony for the project at 11 a.m. today in the aviation board room.

In December, the New Orleans Aviation Board awarded the contract to McDonnell Group of Metairie.

The expansion, expected to be finished by late 2011, will add six airline gates in an open-rotunda format, doubling the capacity of the concourse . ..."

5/6/10 TP: "...Contract awarded

Louis Armstrong International Airport has awarded a $16 million contract to The McDonnel Group, LLC of Metairie for the expansion of Concourse D. ..."

So if that's correct the contract ended up going to McDonnell?

Maybe that Sean Hunter guy plays into this? Have a great weekend.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Yeah but I think it went to McDonnel after Picke botched it. I think there was city lawsuit against Picke over it but I'm not sure what happened.

Anonymous said...

Well, as one of the lawyers for Picke was married to one City Attorney and hanging out with the rest of them, if there was a lawsuit over it, I'd guess not much of any depth happened.

Please stay on that airport thing. You've sniffed up to the edges of this from several directions, I think, and your own archives probably contain as many fresh leads as any new tipster might offer.