Low Bid on Building Pier Still Leaves City Short

Despite an unexpectedly low bid of $8.6 million for construction of a new municipal pier, the city is still $1.5 million short of what it needs to complete the project, a city official told the City Council on Monday night.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said the shortfall stems from the city’s loss of $1.5 million from the anticipated sale of surplus land in Irby Park. He said a proposed construction contract with a commercial firm to purchase the land has fallen through. Therefore, he said, the city cannot count on the $1.5 million from the sale.

Uberuaga made no immediate recommendation to the council on how the $1.5-million shortfall can be restored to the pier budget.

The report given to the City Council noted that the low bid for a new pier of $8.6 million was submitted by Riedel International Inc. of Portland, Ore. The company’s bid was the lowest of six received, and was considerably lower than the city’s estimate last February that the project would cost $11.2 million.

While elated about the low bid, the city staff warned the council that the bid did not include architect fees, fund-raising expenses, money to build new buildings on the pier and funds to remove the old, historic buildings from the existing pier before it is destroyed.

The overall cost for the new pier, even with the low bid for construction, is $11.4 million, Uberuaga told the council.

The pier has been closed since July, 1988, because of damage caused by a storm earlier that year. Engineers and safety experts determined that the pier was not safe. Fund-raising efforts have been going on ever since.

The city’s current timetable calls for tearing down the old pier shortly after Labor Day and beginning construction of a new pier by mid-November.