Bids received

for new ice rink

Bids will be awarded Dec. 18

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- City officials opened bids for providing ice rink and related equipment for the new Fairgrounds Community Center Thursday, and the numbers were encouraging as all four base bids were below estimate.

The lowest base bid of $935,000 was submitted by Rink-Tec of Little Canada, and with the addition of a $10,000 bid on the lone alteration listed, Rink-Tec's total bid came to $945,000, $25,000 below the $970,000 estimate.

While Burley's Rink Supply, Inc., of Johnstown, Penn., had the third highest base bid of $941,980, its $3,200 bid on the alteration brought its overall total to just $180 more than Rink-Tec's total bid.

St. Paul-based Arena Systems' base bid of $939,000 and alt bid of $12,000 left it in third place with a total bid of $951,000. Commercial Refrigeration Systems of Virginia had a base bid of $956,063 and a alt bid of $21,000 for an overall total of $977,063.

Even though the bids have been opened for the ice rink and equipment, they will be considered along with the construction bids for the new community center, the Senior Center addition and the Vogel Arena renovation which will be opened Tuesday, Dec. 11. The awarding of all bids will be done at the City Council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 18.

"I'm very pleased with (the apparent low bid)," Council President Dan Beranek said. "The number of bidders is encouraging, and I expect we'll have even more bidders for the main project. Things are looking very good for the project."

Having this bid come in below estimate keeps the city on target for meeting or beating the construction budget figure of $10,192,000. When furniture, fixtures and equipment, consulting architectural fees and expenses and a 5 percent contingency are added, the total project cost needs to come in at $11,731,000 or less.

The real work in processing bids will come when the construction bids are opened. In addition to the base construction bid, bidders will be asked to bid on a raft of alterations which could potentially cost about $840,000.

Those alterations have been prioritized by the architects, Rozeboom Miller Architects of Minneapolis, with the help of building committees, in case the construction bids come in low enough to allow for adding alterations. Architect Ted Rozeboom told the council also include deduct alterations that could help reduce the overall cost, if needed.