GILROY – All three construction bids for the city
’s new police station have come in more than $8 million – or
nearly 50 percent – higher than engineers’ estimates, stunning city
officials and casting a cloud of uncertainty over the short-term
future of the project and the city’s next course of action.
GILROY – All three construction bids for the city’s new police station have come in more than $8 million – or nearly 50 percent – higher than engineers’ estimates, stunning city officials and casting a cloud of uncertainty over the short-term future of the project and the city’s next course of action.
City officials said Wednesday that the apparent low bidder for the actual construction of the new station – including the 48,500-square foot facility itself and a two-level, roughly 250-space underground parking garage – was Redwood Shores-based S.J. Amoroso Construction Co. at approximately $26,137,000.
The engineers’ estimate was $17,835,000 for that portion of the work, city officials said.
The other two bidders weren’t far behind Amoroso. San Francisco-based Nibbi Brothers Construction bid approximately $26,700,000. KH Construction of Fresno bid approximately $26,792,000.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed they came in higher,” said City Administrator Jay Baksa on Wednesday. “Up to this point, all the bids for the last four or five months have come in below the engineer’s estimates, and we were quite optimistic we were going to get a good bid here.”
The high bids also baffle city officials because of the current economic and construction climates.
“This was a major surprise given there’s a hunger out there for public-works projects,” said Mayor Tom Springer.
They were also surprised at the relatively low number of bids, considering the number of application packages the city sent out. Some 90 firms picked up sets of plans for the project.
Officials said the city is working to get more information from its architect on what happened, and a construction management firm will also make a review in order to help officials craft a recommendation for the City Council, which has to approve any bids and contracts. A series of meetings with key officials and architects is planned for early June.
Without cost issues, construction on the project was scheduled to begin this summer and wrap up by early 2005.
