Grove City's Beulah Park: Pavilion, shelter house bids much higher than expected
The city of Grove City is looking to restructure its plan for the project to add pavilion and shelter house structures to the community park in the Beulah Park Living development.
The original plan was to begin constructing a 4,100-square-foot pavilion and nearly 2,600-square-foot shelter house to begin later this year and be completed in spring 2023, city administrator Charles Boso said.
"We put the project out for bid, and we received only one bid that was higher than our architect's original estimations had been," he said.
The anticipated cost for the pavilion, which as originally envisioned would include tables with seating to accommodate up to 200 people, restrooms and a kitchen, was estimated at slightly less than $1.53 million, Boso said.
The actual bid from Elford Inc. came in at more than $2.34 million, a difference of more than $800,000, he said.
Elford put in a bid of $780,250 for the shelter-house project, which was well above the architect's estimated $420,000, Boso said.
The shelter house is planned to include up to 12 picnic tables and four restrooms, he said.
A third 672-square-foot structure is expected to include three picnic tables and a proposed historical display area to pay homage to the former Beulah Park racetrack site, Boso said.
The architect’s estimate for the third structure was $175,000, and the bid was $340,000, he said.
The higher-than-expected bids Grove City received for its project is following a common trend throughout the central Ohio region, said Steve Reynolds, founding principal and chief adminstrative officer at Shyft Collective, the architectural firm working with the city.
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"We're surprised every week" at the prices contractors and subcontractors are proposing for their services, Reynolds said.
Numerous projects are coming out of the pandemic, and when coupled with the impact of supply-chain issues, they're contributing to rising costs, he said.
"There are just too many jobs out there and not enough employees to get them done," Reynolds said. "It says something about the quality of the contractors and subcontractors we work with ‒ they want to be able to do the best job they can on every project, and the number of available employees hasn't kept up with the demand."
Under Ohio law, a city cannot award bids that are more than 10% above the budgeted amount for a project, Boso said.
"So we are going to have to get together and make a decision collectively about of the different options we should take," he said.
The city could opt to complete the projects in phases, look at whether the scope and amenities of the pavilion and/or the shelter house could be revised to help lower the cost or look to increase the budget for the projects, Boso said.
The estimated costs of the projects were included in the $10 million in funding City Council previously had approved to pay for the development of the community park at Beulah Park, including the structures, walking trails, lighting and landscaping, he said.
Some initial work at the park site already is underway, Boso said, and the bid issue does not affect plans to construct an amphitheater there.
A final determination of the size and scope of the amphitheater feature still is to be determined, he said.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Grove City Beulah Park Living: Bids high for shelter house, pavilion
