HUNTINGTON BEACH : Pier Bid Is $4 Million Under City’s Figure

An Oregon firm is offering to demolish and rebuild the city’s pier for about $4 million less than the city’s cost estimate for the job, city officials announced Wednesday.

Portland-based Riedel International Inc., the lowest bidder among six firms competing for the pier contract, says it can complete the project for $8.59 million. The next lowest proposal the city received was $11.39 million.

The City Council is scheduled to decide Aug. 20 which firm will handle the 18-month project, due to begin after Labor Day.

The estimates do not include the cost of building restaurants, bait shops and other buildings on the pier, which will add between $800,000 and $1 million to the bids, Deputy City Administrator Richard Barnard said Wednesday.

Riedel’s offer nonetheless is remarkably lower than the city’s estimated $12.5-million price tag for the entire undertaking.

“This was the last bid to come in, and when I saw it, I was rather shocked,” said Robert Eichblatt, the city engineer heading the pier project. “This is 25% under our engineers’ estimate, which is highly unusual.”

Riedel is able to trim millions from its cost projection by employing an unusual--and economical--construction technique, Eichblatt said. Unlike the other five competing firms, Riedel would not need to construct a massive temporary trestle alongside the pier to dismantle and rebuild it, he said.

“Once in a while a contractor comes up with a new idea, and it appears that’s what we have here,” Eichblatt said. “We don’t know exactly what method (Riedel) plans to use, but we concentrate on the final product. As long as he gives us the product, the method is pretty much up to him.”

All of the bidders were instructed to tailor their cost estimates to conform to the city’s construction standards, set by council members, city planners and other advisers, Eichblatt said.

Before council members decide whether to accept Riedel’s bid, city officials and expert advisers the city hired will examine the bid and the firm’s credentials.

But Eichblatt said he sees no reason the council would not accept the proposal. “This contractor is a recognized firm with a good deal of experience,” he said.

If Riedel, a 60-year-old company, is chosen for the project, a tremendous burden would be lifted from ongoing fund-raising efforts, Barnard said.

The city already has raised or identified more than $8 million for the pier project, chiefly from state and federal grants and reallocation of city funds, he said. Additionally, a private group has raised an unspecified amount through donations, he said.

If the project gets under way as planned between Labor Day and Oct. 1, officials expect the new pier will be finished by the spring of 1992.