Posted at 12:47 p.m., Friday, February 7, 2003
Dillingham Construction files for Chapter 11
Advertiser Staff and News Services
PLEASANTON, Calif. Dillingham Construction, a former Hawai'i construction company that dredged the main channel into Pearl Harbor, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.The company, now based in Pleasanton, Calif., plans to move to Florida as a smaller operation.
The company was founded in the 1880s to build a railroad across O'ahu.
Dillingham grew to build dams, airfields, high-rise offices, hotels and embassies around the world, including San Francisco's Embarcadero One and Wells Fargo Building.
It also helped repair the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
But in the past decade, Dillingham became embroiled in disputes with government customers, most notably Los Angeles and San Francisco. The company said it was owed millions. The cities said the company overbilled and had other problems.
In November, Dillingham sold Honolulu-based Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., Hawai'i's biggest general contracting firm, to Kajima USA Inc., a subsidiary of Japan's Kajima Corp.
A year earlier, Dillingham sold its Hawai'i paving operations, Hawaiian Bitumuls Paving & Precast Inc., to rival Grace Pacific Corp.
Today Dillingham has no ongoing operations in Hawai'i. Hawaiian Dredging President Bill Wilson said he doesn't expect any Hawaiian Dredging suppliers or subcontractors to be affected by the bankruptcy.
When Dillingham emerges from bankruptcy protection in four to six months, it will be headquartered in Tallahassee, company official said. The reorganized firm will have about 400 employees, down from a peak of 1,500.
