SPRINGDALE -- The City Council on Tuesday night accepted $35,855,288 as the "guaranteed maximum price" for building the city's municipal campus.
The cost was determined by Duvall Decker Architects, which designed the building, and Milestone Construction, which was awarded the contract as the construction manager of the project.
The price includes $22,855,534 for the Criminal Justice Complex and $12,969,754 to renovate the city administration building.
The criminal justice complex will house the Police Department and court facilities on the north end of the campus. Construction of this Phase 1 should take about a year.
The current city administration building will undergo remodeling to house other city offices. This construction will start when the criminal justice complex is completed.
Mayor Doug Sprouse said the 125,000-square-foot municipal campus will be 20 feet shorter on the south end than expected. To keep costs within the budget, unassigned space to be used for community rooms was eliminated. Sprouse said he hopes costs come in below budget for Phase 1 of the project, and the flexible space can be completed during Phase 2.
Other cost-cutting measures included things such as air duct cleaning, said Roy Decker, an architect with Duvall Decker.
"The project design will meet all the city's requirements for a long-term durable building," Decker said. "It is flexible and includes growth space for 20 years. The reductions do not sacrifice these important goals in any way."
All city departments have grown along with the city since the city administration building was built in the mid 1990s. The city needs more room.
"We've got closets we turned into offices," reported Police Chief Mike Peters.
City officials broke ground on the new campus Friday.
Springdale voters approved $40 million for the project in 2018 as part of a bond issue. The city has spent $1.2 million of for a new radio system for the Fire and Police departments. The city also bought land along West Huntsville Avenue needed to build the campus.
The city also set aside $1 million of the bond money for furnishings and other equipment for the new building. Wyman Morgan, the city's director of finance and administration, said existing furniture will move if it fits the needs of city employees in the new facility.
Morgan said the architects developed the guaranteed maximum price by adding the costs of all the subcontractors' bids for their part of the building into a computer program. Then the architect adds his fee and a bit of money for contingencies.
The city also holds $600,000 in contingencies, if needed, Morgan said. Any unforeseen costs above the guaranteed maximum will be negotiated, he said.
The construction management company will coordinate the work of about 40 subcontractors, Sprouse said.
Morgan said the council also will be asked to approve prices for two upcoming street projects -- the streets bordering Shaw Family Park in the northwest part of Springdale and development of Spring Street, which runs in front of city hall.
He said concrete work for the park's parking lots and trails will be coordinated with the improvements to the streets and hopefully save some money for the city. Work on Spring Street will be done in conjunction with the second phase of the municipal campus with the same goal of saving money in mind.
NW News on 06/26/2019