Hard Rock at Metropolitan Park held a vendor event for contractors in Queens on Sept. 21, and the project's materials lay out how many bid packages are coming and how small firms can get in.
The project is Hard Rock at Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion redevelopment going up around Citi Field — a hotel-and-gaming complex, a 25-acre public park, a live music venue, a sportsbook, a Queens food hall, and a renovated, accessible train station, according to the project's own materials. Backers cite 23,000 union construction jobs, a five-year community-engagement effort, and more than 1,000 meetings already held with community leaders.
“The Gaming Facility Location Board's March 2026 final report records a $25 million small-business lender program for M/WBE firms in Hard Rock's plan.”
The number that matters to a contractor is 250. A project procurement flyer lists more than 250 anticipated construction bid packages, an early bid package release in the third quarter of 2026, rolling releases through 2027 and "multiple opportunity and qualification events" before each release. The vendor page at metropolitanpark.com/vendor, which still carries a May 2025 timeline, lays out an earlier plan: 88 early packages in the second half of 2025, a second round in early 2026 covering core and shell electrical, structural steel, elevators, fire protection, HVAC, plumbing and security and telecom, and a general contractor selection in April 2026. The RFI Wire has not confirmed that those packages were issued or that a general contractor was selected. NYC Department of Buildings records list Suffolk Construction as the permit holder for the casino foundation and test piles and Hunter Roberts Construction Group as the permit holder for both parking garages.
The Gaming Facility Location Board's March 2026 final report records a $25 million small-business lender program for M/WBE firms in Hard Rock's plan. The RFI Wire found no interest rate, loan size or launch date in the filings it reviewed. An earlier version of this story reported loans of up to $1.5 million at 3% interest with a fall 2026 launch. The RFI Wire could not confirm those terms and has removed them. The RFI Wire asked the project on Nov. 3 to confirm or correct them and had not received a reply by publication.
Hard Rock's state application commits to meet or exceed New York's 30% M/WBE goal and 6% goal for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, a 36% combined baseline, and describes a plan for at least 36% of construction trade workers to be minority, women or service-disabled veterans, according to the filing. The Location Board said in its Dec. 1, 2025 selection document that none of the applicants made binding diversity commitments beyond best-efforts pledges. The state's goal counts only firms certified through Empire State Development, according to the Location Board's Round 1 questions and answers. The project is also running a local-preference push for Queens-based firms and workers, and it is co-sponsored by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., according to the flyer.
The project's intake is a vendor interest form at metropolitanpark.com/vendor and a vendor portal run by McKissack & McKissack, the project's M/WBE and SDVOB partner, according to the flyer. The next dated events are an in-person M/WBE vendor fair Monday, Nov. 9, from 8 to 11 a.m. at Citi Field, free, with bid packages presented by Suffolk and Hunter Roberts, according to the host's Eventbrite page, and a virtual information session that McKissack told its vendor list on Nov. 2 had moved from Nov. 11 to Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. As individual packages get formal solicitation numbers, they'll land on The RFP Wire like anything else, but the firms that show up to these sessions now are the ones who'll already be qualified when that happens.
*Correction, Nov. 3: An earlier version of this story said the first 88 bid packages went out in late 2025 and that a general contractor selection closed in April; described loans up to $1.5 million at 3% interest with a fall 2026 launch; and described what Hunter Roberts presented at the event. The RFI Wire could not confirm those statements in the project's filings or public pages and has removed or restated them. The headline and the paragraph on upcoming dates were also updated.*