Friday a really bid day for Mankato construction

Apr. 30—MANKATO — Even if they didn't know it, 2 p.m. Friday mattered for Mankato's youth softball players, folks who attend civic center events, Riverfront Drive drivers, Old Town business owners, Little League baseball parents and area taxpayers.

The city is tentatively planning to do more than $10.4 million in projects affecting all of those groups this summer, and Friday was the day general contractors were revealing what they would charge for the work.

In a volatile time for construction prices, the bids on the city's biggest bid-opening day were mostly higher than expected once again but appeared to be somewhat more aligned with estimates and with the municipal budget than in previous cases earlier this year.

In total, firms bidding on the projects offered to do the construction for a combined $12 million. Some of the prices were far enough above what was budgeted that some of the work could be scaled back or delayed.

City staff, who declined to comment on Friday, will be scrutinizing the bids in the days ahead, crunching the numbers and presenting recommendations May 9 to the City Council.

Youth softball

The largest potential project is a modernization of the Thomas Park softball complex into a facility for young softball players that matches the youth baseball complex known as Community Athletic Fields.

The project at Thomas Park, which is just east of East High School, is planned for this summer and fall and would create a "championship field" with artificial turf, lights, concrete dugouts, a scoreboard and bleachers. Also, a pinwheel of four fields — up from the current three — is to be built to the north of the premier field. The center of the pinwheel is to include a shade structure and bleachers, and the project would also bring trails, batting cages and better drainage.

Peterson Companies offered to do that project for $5.49 million, and the only other bidder — Ebert Construction — entered a bid of $5.94 million. That's more than the $4.17 million in basic construction costs estimated earlier this year and more than the $4.7 million budgeted for construction, design and construction contingency fees.

The project would mark the first time a softball complex was built in the Mankato area with younger players in mind, said Pam Kind, president of the Mankato Area Girls Fastpitch Association, known as the Peppers.

"We haven't had that happen for the 40 years that Peppers has been in existence," Kind said. "Mankato-North Mankato is filled with so many wonderful facilities. But to have something designed specifically for these girls is just fulfilling our dreams."

While the bids for the basic work were well over expectations, the news was better when optional amenities were included in the project. Those alternates include a new restroom building with a locker room, a smaller restroom in the center of the pinwheel, artificial turf on the adjacent East High School softball field, and artificial turf on the infields of the four smaller fields.

The alternates were included in the request for bids in case outside contributions were available to expand the scope of the work.

City staff, working with engineering consultant ISG, expected those amenities to add nearly $3.1 million to the cost if all were approved. But the Peterson Cos. bid added $2.7 million to its price for the alternate amenities, and Ebert Construction added $2.2 million.

Civic center arena

After Thomas Park, the costliest projects out for bid were at the Mayo Clinic Event Center. The basic construction cost for replacement of deteriorating exterior wall panels and repairs to the arena roof was expected to be $4.34 million.

The base bid from the single bidder — Knudson Construction of Rochester — was $4.57 million.

A project to modernize the chiller plant at the civic center, a cooling system that dates to the arena's 1995 beginnings, was expected to carry a construction cost of $1.46 million. WEB Construction offered to do the job for $1.43 million, one of three firms with base bids of under $1.5 million.

Youth baseball

With costs rising for Thomas Park, the arena repairs and swimming pool upgrades (out for bid this summer), the city scaled back plans for improvements to the baseball complex at Community Athletic Fields. T-ball fields for the smallest players and a playground were dropped, leaving just a new parking lot planned in 2022 for the complex — which is south of Rosa Parks Elementary and suffers from a parking shortage.

The new 58-stall lot is to be constructed off of Herron Drive to the west of the six baseball fields and includes a vehicle turn-around.

The anticipated construction cost of the added parking was $372,000 in February. Five firms submitted bids by deadline, and three beat the estimated price. The apparent winner was Dirt Merchant Inc. at $314,000, just $1,500 less than the bid from WW Blacktopping Inc.

Riverfront Drive pilot

The project that most exceeded the budget in percentage terms is one that would model a proposed lane-reduction and redesign of Riverfront Drive through Old Town.

City leaders, working with the business district, are contemplating a permanent reduction in through-lanes on Riverfront Drive from four to two between Plum and Rock streets. Even after the addition of a center lane for drivers making left turns, the change would create more room for wider sidewalks, greenery, art and other amenities to make the historic business district more attractive to customers.

The plan, however, is to first try a pilot project — relying on restriping of lanes and placement of movable landscaping — to measure the impact of the lane reduction on traffic speed and volumes on Riverfront and Second Street. The demonstration project is to start in June and continue into winter.

The expectation was the striping, landscaping and temporary pedestrian crossing enhancements could be done for $88,000.

Instead, two firms offered to do the work but at a price that was about 160 percent above the estimate. The bid from Safety Signs was $229,000 and one from Urban Companies was just over $230,000.

The vast majority of the work included in bid openings is to be financed with bonds to be sold this summer and repaid with revenue generated by Mankato's half-percent local sales tax.