Is former Georgetown Hoyas and New York Knicks super center Patrick Ewing looking to score construction contracts with the District government?
So indicates Keith Lomax, the unauthorized chauffeur and friend of former Mayor Adrian Fenty, whose own construction company began landing millions of dollars’ worth of city contracts when Fenty was in office. (City officials recently said Lomax’s company, RBK Construction, did not meet certain city-imposed “standards” for self-performing work on a recent school construction project.)
In a June 22 email (which LL obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request) to Department of General Services Director Brian Hanlon, Lomax asked for a meeting to discuss business opportunities for a new partnership featuring Lomax and Ewing.
“I would like to talk to you about Pat Ewing who is starting a company in DC ward 8,” Lomax wrote Hanlon. “Pat and I would like to get some ideas in what direction to go. We are teaming as two [Certified Business Enterprise] company.”
Lomax hung up when LL called him, but some of his associates confirm that he’s talking about the Patrick Ewing. An effort to reach Ewing, via his shoe company, has so far been unsuccessful.
RBK Construction’ offices are in a row house in Ward 8 on Minnesota Avenue SE. It shares the building with E & H Contracting, which Lomax’s associates say is the Ewing-owned enterprise. The company has not filed incorporation records with the city and is not currently certified as a CBE.
Below is a picture taken outside of Lomax’s (and maybe Ewing’s) offices.
In his most recent application with the Department of Small and Local Business Development, Lomax indicated that he lives at this location, which earns him extra CBE preference points when RBK bids on city contracts. Court and other regulatory filings, however, indicate that Lomax lives in Fort Washington, Md.
Lomax was a local high school basketball standout who played at Providence College in Providence, R.I., when Ewing was playing for Big East rival Georgetown. When Providence beat Georgetown in 1982, “Ewing shoved Lomax and there was a brief staring match between the two freshmen,” according to a Washington Post write-up.
If the D.C. government contracts don’t work out, Ewing—a former assistant coach for the Orlando Magic—might have a backup plan. He’s rumored to be in line for an NBA head coaching gig, according to one recent report.
Top photo via Wikimedia Commons, second photo by Alan Suderman