Construction training facility to open

A small, minority-owned construction company is moving up the food chain and opening up more opportunities for others.

Coming from a home office, Premier Construction Mac L.L.C. and its two partners will be renovating and moving together into a new warehouse and office in Bridgeport. Additionally, the company will be building a training facility on site that will be open to the public.

“Construction is one of the last industries with minimal education, where you can still learn the trade and get a good job,” said Marshan Coleman, owner of Premier Construction. “There are a lot of people in the community that are still interested in that and if we can give them an opportunity, it”™s going to be good for the entire community.”

The new office will be located at 247 Madison Terrace in Bridgeport and renovations are scheduled to be complete in 2013. Bruce Wettenstein of Vidal/Wettenstein L.L.C. represented the purchaser; counsel for the seller was Rome McGuigan of Hartford and counsel for the purchaser was Daniel Shepro of Shepro & Blake L.L.C. in Stratford.

Premier Construction Academy is expected to open late 2012. Construction workers often need to be recertified and trained in a variety of subjects, whether it”™s renewing a certification in scaffolding or general safety rules from the U.S. Department of Labor”™s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

It”™s not unusual for larger construction companies to have instructors come onsite, but Coleman said he wanted a designated area for it that would be open to the public, specifically people who have recently been released from prison or others who have been unemployed for an extended time. The classes could help them become more employable and give them a sense of what”™s required to work on large commercial projects, which can be more lucrative than residential ones. He hasn”™t decided how many courses the training facility will offer or if and how much he”™ll charge students who aren”™t employees.

“I just want to be a little aggressive to give my company an edge in our ability and knowledge of the trade we”™re operating in,” Coleman said.

Premier Construction specializes in masonry for commercial real estate and it has worked on several large projects, including schools in Bridgeport and Stamford and the Bridgeport Library. The company has won Bridgeport”™s Minority Business of the Year Award twice in the last four years and Coleman said he owes the success of his business to the city”™s small and minority business programs.

“If it wasn”™t for those resources early on, I don”™t think I”™d be where I am right now,” Coleman said.

Besides opening the training facility, Coleman said he”™s looking forward to having a centralized location where he can store all his equipment and be located close to his partners. JT Landscaping specializes in landscaping and snow removal and Premier Enterprises KM offers real estate mortgage assistance, among other services.