$8M in construction bids awarded for Bloomington technology center, more to come
Ahead of the scheduled ceremonial groundbreaking on Thursday, about $8 million in construction contracts have been awarded to build a technology center in Bloomington’s Trades District, which is part of a certified technology park in the downtown.
It was Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) that approved the construction contracts, at its regular meeting on Monday. At a special meeting last Wednesday, the RDC had approved an extra $3.8 million in funding for the center, which now has a budget of about $12.8 million.
Wednesday’s special meeting had already been put on the calendar, before the opening of bids last Tuesday, in case the bids came in higher than budgeted, and they did.
Awarded at Monday’s meeting were the contracts for bid package #1 (site work), and for the bid packages #2 (general trades) and #4 (roofing).
The $1,248,142 contract for site work went to E&B paving. The contracts for general trades and roofing were awarded to Building Associates, Inc. for a total of $6,746,000.
In one of the contract resolutions presented to the RDC by assistant city attorney Colleen Newbill, RDC members Deb Hutton and Deborah Myerson pointed out a couple of copy-paste errors, which showed E&B Paving receiving the general trades contract, instead of Building Associates, Inc.
There were no contracts to award for the packages #3, #5, and #6, because they were all rolled into #2 general trades. Still to be awarded at some future date are contracts for the remaining bid packages—#7 (fire protection), #8 (mechanical), and #9 (electrical).
For the electrical work, Cassady Electrical Contractors, headed by RDC member Randy Cassady, put in a bid. But the current “projected” award of the electrical work, as shown on a summary spreadsheet, matches a lower bid, made by Woods Electrical Contractors, Inc. at $1,020,000.
Cassady was absent on Monday, so did not vote on the awards of the construction contracts approved at the meeting. Last Wednesday, at the RDC’s special meeting, Cassady participated in the unanimous vote on the $3.8-million increase in funding for the project.
The 3-story 22,000-square-foot technology center will be constructed at the southwest corner of Maker Way and Madison Street, kitty-corner from The Mill, which is a coworking space developed by the RDC.
After the ceremonial groundbreaking this Thursday, the actual site work is expected to start the following week.
