Work on Cultural Arts Center Expected to Resume Soon : Simi Valley: A bonding firm is expected today to choose a contractor to complete renovations at the complex.

Renovation work is expected to resume next week on the half-finished Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, a 12,000-square-foot complex stalled late last year when the original contractor was fired, city officials said Wednesday.

After daylong talks Wednesday with the bonding firm liable for completing the $2.6-million facility, Deputy City Manager Bob Heitzman said the insurance company this morning will choose one of two companies to finish the job.

HMH Construction of Camarillo and Hayward Construction of Monrovia each have bid about $2.2 million to finish restoration of the 70-year-old former church, Heitzman said.

The bonding firm, Vigilant Insurance Co. of New Jersey, still has several details to work out, he said.

The bonding firm “basically delivers us a new contractor and a new contract, and we would issue a notice to proceed,” Heitzman said. “The potential is for a 120- or 150-day contract, so that would put it into June or July.”

City Council members on Monday will be asked to approve the agreement, paving the way for renovation work to restart days later, he said.

In December, the council fired Tricon Contractors of Van Nuys from the $2.6-million construction project after some work had to be redone and subcontractors complained that their payments were overdue.

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Tricon had won the construction contract in August and was scheduled to complete the renovation by the end of February. The city made $630,000 in payments before work stopped with roughly 60% of the project completed, Heitzman said.

City officials have been working with the surety company for several weeks to find a suitable builder to complete the renovation. The extra costs and penalties for delays will be picked up by Vigilant Insurance, Heitzman said.

Three weeks ago, four contracting firms toured the site before deciding whether to bid on completing the project. Ultimately, three companies submitted bids.

The decades-old former church will be transformed into a sprawling performing arts center, complete with a 292-seat theater and an adjacent multipurpose room.

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Located at Los Angeles Avenue and Church Street, the building boasts wide, arched windows and a red-tiled roof above 12,000 square feet of floor space.

Council members said Wednesday that they look forward to getting the renovation back on track.

“I’ve been watching it pretty closely, almost daily,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “We really haven’t lost that much time, so if they can get back in there and get back to work next week, that would be great.”

Councilman Paul Miller said the recent rains probably would have prevented the original contractor from working through much of January, even if the company had not been fired.

“I’m happy to see this move forward,” he said. “It was a shame we had to have a delay, although in retrospect, given the weather, I’m not sure we would have made that much progress.”

Members of the Cultural Arts Center Commission, which will manage the facility once it opens, said the new center will provide a variety of cultural opportunities to Simi Valley residents.

“I see performances being brought in, I see local performances being staged there--music, dance,” commission Vice Chairman Jay Bloom said. “It’s a major event and a major facility for Simi.”