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Saturday, October 9, 1999
By GUY PRIEL Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- Another chapter was closed on development of a baseball field at the site of the former American Artstone Property, on Friday, as the New Ulm City Council awarded the bid for development to Heymann Construction of New Ulm. The bids were opened during Tuesday night's council meeting, but city officials needed time to tabulate the bids and seek final recommendations from Barton-Aschman Associates of Minneapolis, who are partners in the project. Heymann was incorrectly identified as Embers Construction in Friday's Journal. The city received two qualified bids for the project, originally estimated to cost $1,069,695.55 by the engineers in charge of the project, with alternates that were estimated at $719,950. The Heymann bid was $158,807.25 lower than the estimated engineer's bid for the base project, which includes all grading, fill and other items necessary for actual development of the park. There were several items on the bid that were tabulated lower than estimated, such as removals, fill, drain tiles, drinking fountains, benches, dugouts and conduit sleeving. "The conduit sleeving will be necessary for wires associated with the future scoreboard and other future electrical needs that may arise," Engineer Scott Midness said. Because of the complexity of the project and other associated problems based on the location and grade of the site, there were a variety of unknowns and diverse needs that were anticipated at the time of the estimates that were not reflected on the final bids, he said. Heymann will be using seven sub-contractors for the project, which will begin as soon as possible, so the fill can be in place in time for settlement over the winter. "They are confident they can be done with the project by September," Midness said. Construction costs, including the base bid, alternates one and three for the lighting and the bleachers, design fees of $140,771 and a $50,000 allowance for contingencies, total $1,363,859. Alternate one includes ballfield lighting, with the lump sum of $145,400 being paid by the city. Alternate three includes the installation of bleachers, with the lump sum of $116,800 being paid by the city. The city received a $500,000 donation from an anonymous donor for the project, leaving $863,859 as the amount to be funded.
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