Go to The Daily Review mobile
Bids opened for expansion of YMCA building
Published: December 11, 2009
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share this
Review Photo/JAMES LOEWENSTEIN Project manager Jeremy Berry-Propst of Lack & Strosser Architecture, foreground, announces the bids on the YMCA renovation/expansion project, after they were opened at this week's Towanda Borough Council meeting. Listening to the bids are, from left, borough Solicitor Leonard Frawley, council member Ellen Lacek, and council member Mark Christini.
TOWANDA - Bids were opened this week for the renovation and expansion project at the YMCA building on College Avenue in Towanda, with base bids ranging from $513,471 to $640,000.
Five companies submitted bids to do the project, which includes a 1,500 square foot addition to the building as well as renovations to the building's two west wings.
The project is intended to create more usable space for the YMCA of Bradford County, which leases the building from Towanda Borough.
This the second time the project has been put out to bid.
When the project was bid out for the first time, which occurred last summer, the low bid that was submitted was 90 percent higher than the architect's $378,000 estimate of the construction cost of the project, Fairchild said.
Since then, the project has been scaled back and redesigned to lower its cost. Among the changes that were made during the redesign were to reduce the size of the addition from 2,000 square feet to 1,500 square feet.
When bids were opened for the second time, which occurred on Monday, the low base bid was $513,471, which was submitted by bid Grimm Construction of Waymart, Pa.
The highest base bid at Monday's bid opening was $640,000, which was submitted by Streeter Associates of Elmira, N.Y.
Each contractor's base bid includes two bids: one for the first phase of the project, which is the construction of the addition, and a second for the second phase, which consists of renovations to the existing structure, said Jeremy Berry-Probst, the project manager for the architectural firm working on the project, Lack & Strosser Architecture of Lewisburg.
The bids for the first phase ranged from $424,000 to $480,000 with Robert Feaster Corp. of Northumberland, Pa., submitting the lowest bid.
The bids for the second phase ranged from $47,000 to $160,000 with Grimm Construction submitting the lowest bid.
In addition to the base bids, the contractors were asked to submit bids for eight alternates, which are optional parts of the project.
"We are trying to put together a project that is affordable," Towanda Borough Manager Tom Fairchild Jr. said, explaining the need for the alternates. "The alternates have to do with various components of the overall project. Some may be cut from the final project. Some may be cut from the project and done at a later time."
The bids will now be reviewed by the architect, and will also be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources for its review.
The architect will review the bids for "affordability" and to make sure they meet the bid specifications, Fairchild said.
After the bids are reviewed, the council will make a decision, probably in January, on whether to accept any of the bids, he said.
James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.
Be the first to comment on this article!