During the ribbon cutting ceremony, the Cleveland Building Trades received high praise for completing the Downtown Hilton Hotel on time and $20 million under budget.Nearly $310 million was budgeted for the 32-story hotel project, including $276 million in construction and purchasing costs and $34 million for contingency funds. Thanks to the Cleveland Building Trades, those numbers were never in danger of being exceeded! Through high quality work, trades members saved enough money during hotel construction to fund an additional project to build an underground walkway from a parking garage across the street to the Hilton.Considered a key piece of the city’s bid to host the Republican National Convention, the Hilton was built under a project labor agreement (PLA) in just over two years.“I couldn't be more proud of the work done by our members,” said Dave Wondolowski, ExecutiveSecretary for the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council. “They have shown both the benefits of their training and the benefits of having a PLA on a project.”The 600-room hotel can now serve as a showcase to the rest of America why projects of all scopes and sizes should be built with PLAs – because they will be built with high quality craftsmanship, come in on time and on or under budget.“Meeting the tight time line was critical to the overall success of the project. The collaboration between Turner/Ozanne, the subcontractors and our members made it all possible,” added Wondolowski.Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish both thanked the tradesmen and tradeswomen for not only their hard work, but also for the high quality of work performed on the project.During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Jackson admitted he was initially worried that the hotel would not be built in time. However, his fears were calmed during the first project meeting when Wondolowski promised him the trades could get the structure built in time for it to open up for the RNC.The crews backed up Wondolowski’s words through their hard work and dedication. The PLA assured labor stability on project and the highly trained and skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen used their skills to provide quality work when constructing Cleveland’s newest skyscraper.