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Youngstown Awards First Construction Contract for Civic Center
By Dan O'BrienYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Within two weeks, the public should see construction activity begin at the downtown site where the city plans to build its long-awaited civic center.The city's board of control this morning awarded the first contract associated with the project, selecting Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co., Youngstown, for a $1, 337,114 contract involving the first phase of site preparation work for the $41 million convocation center.Marucci was the lowest overall bidder of the three companies that submitted proposals. The second lowest bid of $1,349,800 was submitted by Soda Construction of Niles and the third lowest bid of $1,356,000 was submitted by A.P. O'Horo Co., Liberty.All bids came in well under project estimates. Officials from Dallas based Hunt Construction, the construction manager on the project, expected bids to come in around $2,347,000.Sealed bids were opened July 1 in City Council chambers for contracts involving preliminary excavation and utility work at the project site. No companies outside the Mahoning Valley presented proposals, indicating local contractors are well positioned to grab a fair share of business as construction begins on the civic center.The bid package was structured into two parts, allowing contractors to bid on the excavation and utility portions separately. Therefore, contractors had the option of splitting the contract with another company, said Jeffrey Chagnot, director of economic development.However, the two lowest bidders submitted proposals for the overall work and were unwilling to share the contract, though they costed the utility and excavation work out separately, Chagnot said. Thus, the city was compelled to select the lowest overall bidder. Only O'Horo submitted a proposal that called for splitting the work, he said.Officials said excavation work would likely begin within two weeks after the contract was awarded.The lowest proposal for the excavation portion came from O'Horo, which submitted a bid of $857,000. Second lowest was Soda, with $900,000, and third was Marucci, which costed the project out at $971,576. Hunt Construction estimated the excavation bids to be about $1.6 million.The excavation portion involves digging, grading and demolition at the construction site at Walnut and Front streets downtown. Demolition is limited to an old retaining wall at the site and not buildings, which will fall under a separate contract to be awarded in the future.A second part of the bid package calls for the installation of water lines, sewer lines, catch basins and electrical conduit at the site.Marucci submitted a low bid of $365,538 for the utility portion. Soda Construction provided the second lowest estimate at $450,000 and O'Horo's ranked third with $543,000. Hunt projected the costs for this phase at $725,000.At least eight more bid packages are expected to be advertised, said K. Anthony Hayek, architect for MS Consultants, Youngstown, which has worked with the city since the beginning of the project. Future bid packages will probably be large enough to accommodate two or three contractors, Hayek elaborated. "We're glad to see local companies being responsive," said Carmen Conglose, deputy director of public works.Bids for underslab, mechanical, electrical and plumbing work for the civic center's foundation are now being accepted. Those bids are set to be open at noon on July 15. Contact Dan O'Brien at [email protected]"