Board to offer contract to construction managers
Published 12:00 am Friday, June 7, 2002
The county board met a prime candidate firm for the construction management of a new judicial center Thursday, and decided to enter a contract after reviewing the offer during their next meeting.
Representatives from Minneapolis-based Adolfson & Peterson Construction explained the details of their service to the commissioners. The company had indicated that for the $20-million project, the management fee would be about 1.25 percent, or approximately $250,000.
Though the charge covers basic services throughout the project, including the pre-construction and post-construction phases, the firm also provides many other services.
General contractors, on average, charge 6 to 8 percent of the project cost for the management portion, while the construction management firm usually has a lower fee, according to the county.
The board asked Mark Liska of A&P to submit an estimate including necessary parts of the plan. It also asked the company to review the estimate by BKV Group, the architect of the new judicial center, on the cost for dealing with the 1954 building, which now contains court offices and other county departments.
BKV Group provided an option of vacating the building and adding a 12,000 square-foot space to the new judicial center to replace it. The original remodeling plan, to ready current court facilities for new uses, would cost $1.4 million, while the alternative would be $1.2 million for new construction plus the demolition cost. The demolition would include removing asbestos and restoring the northern face of the old courthouse.
The decision was unanimous. But Commissioner Glen Mathiason said the huge construction cost could endanger the county budget available to other public projects. &uot;We lose something to get something else,&uot; he said. Road improvement, for example, would be more important than the judicial center for bringing business to the community. &uot;The building is something we have to get done. But we should look for some ways to reduce the cost.&uot;
The county is planning the judicial center to relieve crowding and security problems in the jail and court offices, as well as space shortages elsewhere in the courthouse. Originally, the north courthouse annex, also called the 1954 building, was to be used for other offices after court personnel move into the new structure, but some community members have lobbied to have the building torn down. They say it’s outdated and doesn’t match the historic look of the older courthouse structure.