After receiving bids that were significantly over estimates for an expansion to the township senior center, West Windsor may instead have to build the project in two phases.##M:[more]##
The project’s architect had estimated a construction cost of $1.5 million, but the lowest bid, submitted by BurMarc Construction, was $2.5 million. Two other bids were also submitted on the August 14 bid opening date — $2.97 million from Structural Concepts, and $3.65 million from MJJ Construction. Township Council voted to reject all bids on September 4.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh says he was surprised with the bid amounts. “I was told the architect made the estimates based on the information available. The bids that came in were much higher than the statewide average.”
Hsueh says that the administration is looking into options for additional funding. Thus far, the township has received $500,”000 from Mercer County and $150,”000 from the state department of community affairs
According to Business Administrator Christopher Marion, the township is planning on re-bidding the project. If the numbers come back over estimate again, the plan would be to approach the project in two phases.
The first phase, according to Marion, would include renovation to the front of the existing building, internal renovations, and the construction of additional classrooms on the back of the building.
The second phase would include the construction of a new larger activity room, the conversion of the current activity room into classroom space, and a connector to the existing building.
“We’re looking at a two-pronged approach,” says Marion. “We want to re-bid with some minor revisions to see whether the prices we received are reflective of the market. The second prong (if the first fails) is to move to a phased approach.”
The first phase would be funded from $1.5 million set aside for the project in the current budget. “We would discuss funding for phase two during the capital budget discussions in 2008,” Marion says. “Over the next couple of months, the project architect will be working on the phase one and phase two scenarios.”
According to Marion, the bids came in high because prices in almost every category were 40 to 50 percent higher than the amounts estimated. They include costs for materials, plumbing, concrete, flooring, and framing.
Marion says the expansion is necessary to meet the demands of the township’s senior citizen program. “The way the building was originally planned, it wasn’t the best utilization of space, and didn’t anticipate our programming needs.”
Hsueh emphasizes the importance of providing amenities for the town’s seniors citizen population is growing. “One of my philosophies is to keep seniors living in the town. We need to make sure we provide more opportunities for seniors.”
