Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Convocation Center Bids Come in Millions Over Estimates
By George Nelson YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- More than three-fourths of the bid proposals opened Tuesday for work on the Youngstown Convocation Center were over the city engineer's estimates, ranging from nearly $2,000 to more than $1 million in some cases.City officials opened bids Tuesday for a dozen scopes of work on the convocation center, now under construction between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges. The total cost of the project has been estimated at $41 million -- $26.8 million of which will be subsidized with a federal grant. Financing is still being arranged for the balance of the estimated cost. Jeff Kossow, executive director of the convocation center, said he was pleased with the response by contractors. "Now the real work starts for us to go back and identify the ins and outs, the ups and downs, and really check through these. Our construction team has a lot of work ahead of them," he observed.In remarks prior to the bid opening, Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey said he wanted to have the bids evaluated within 10 working days and then have the bids to go to the city's Board of Control for approval. "That's very aggressive but that's how aggressive we've been on the project and that's how aggressive we'll continue to be," the mayor said. At the completion of the work covered in Tuesday's bids, the project should be about 80% finished. McKelvey thanked the vendors that gathered for the bid opening in City Council Chambers, noting that earlier in the day the "whacko birds" were on a WKBN radio talk show "nay-saying the project." On Tuesday morning, the Daily Business Journal Online posted an article based on a letter to Councilman Rufus Hudson from local businessman Bruce Zoldan, who is critical about the city's handling of the project and its financing. Zoldan's letter set off the radio discussion. Bids to supply drywall and an acoustic ceiling, estimated at $2.2 million, ranged from the $2.5 million proposal submitted by LM Construction, St. Clairsville, up to the $2.388 million bid submitted by GQ Contracting Co., Wickliffe. Bids for the roof, estimated at $595,923, ran from $842,585, submitted by Terik Roofing Inc., Akron, up to the $1.093 million proposal from T&F Systems Inc., Cleveland. The city fared better on bids for the convocation center∂s mechanical systems, with three of the four proposals coming in under the $3.3 million estimate. D&G Mechanical Inc., West Middlesex, Pa., had the low bid, with nearly $2.8 million; Prout Boiler Heating and Welding Inc., Youngstown, had the highest bid -- and the only one over the estimate -- for the work, $3.665 million.Half the six bids submitted for the electrical work, estimated at $2.8 million, also came in under estimates. Bids for that work ranged from just over $2 million, submitted by Bruce and Merilees Electric Co., New Castle, Pa., to $3.169 million, submitted by Enertech Electrical, Lowellville.All five bids for masonry work came in over the engineer's estimate of $1.29 million, ranging from $1.32 million, submitted by Lencyk Masonry, Youngstown, to $1.825 million, by Moser Construction Co. Inc., Rootstown.Three companies submitted bids to supply the ice rink for the arena: Pace Industrial, Edmonton, Canada, $1.045 million; Reliance Mechanical Corp., Cleveland, $790,000; and Ice Builders, Liverpool, N.Y., $786,400. All three were over the city engineer's estimate, $680,000. Both bids for fire protection -- $651,000, by S.A. Comunale, Barberton, and $479,327, by Grunau Company Inc., Moon Township, Pa. -- came in over the estimated $409,673 cost.Two bid proposals were received for the contract to provide doors, frames and other hardware for the convocation center -- Builders Hardware and Specialty Company Inc., Youngstown, bid $140,272, and Cleveland Architectural Hardware, Cleveland, bid $115,599 -- but neither bidder submitted a required proposal guarantee. Four of the construction bids sought only had a single bidder. Parella Panunzio Inc., Youngstown, submitted a bid of $1.553 million for miscellaneous concrete work, compared to the engineer's estimate of $927,000; Comm Steel Inc., Cleveland, bid $1.159 million to supply miscellaneous metals, up from the estimated $449,616; CQ Contracting Co., Wickliffe, bid $688,00 for fireproofing work estimated at $349,608; and Komar Plumbing Company Inc., Boardman, bid $1.775 million for the plumbing contract, estimated at $1.141 million.Two contractors submitted combined bids. Roth Bros. bid $3.783,200 for the roofing and electrical packages, and S.A. Comunale proposed $3.598 million for the mechanical and fire protection contracts."We've got a busy couple of weeks here," said project manager Michael Perry of Hunt Construction Group. "We've got a lot of information that we've got to go through and this is just the tip of the iceberg." Acknowledging some of the bids were far higher than the estimates, he said the project team will need to evaluate the proposals and sit down with the bidders.Kossow said structural steel for the convocation center should begin going up on the site after the first of the year. Speaking as the region received its first real blast of winter, he did not anticipate any problems with construction, which project officials have said so far has moved on or ahead of schedule."We all knew that we were going to be building this thing in the winter. We anticipate that there's going to be some delays," he said. "Obviously certain weather conditions are going to prevent them from working but that's all built into the erection plan of the steel, so that there are days when they won't work but then there are times they're going to make it up."Contact George Nelson at [email protected]"