Bids come in under budget

Heymann

submits base bid of $9,229,000

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Big smiles and looks of relief accompanied the opening of construction bids for the three sales tax referendum projects during a special meeting of the New Ulm City Council Tuesday afternoon.

The apparent low bid, from among seven prime bidders, was submitted by Heymann Construction Co. of New Ulm, with a base bid of $9,229,000. When the 17 add alternates bid by Heymann are included, it brings the firm's total bid to $9,839,000.

"We're in great shape," said a relieved Ted Rozeboom, principal architect of Rozeboom Miller Architects in Minneapolis. "We can take the base bid and all the add alternates, with none of the deducts, and still be under budget."

The magic number for construction of a new Fairgrounds Community Center with two ice rinks, expansion of the Senior Center and renovation of Vogel Area was $10,192,000.

When furniture, fixtures and equipment, consulting architectural fees and expenses and a 5 percent contingency are added, the total budget for the three projects was $11,731,000.

The apparent low bid Nov. 29 for rink and equipment served as a precursor of what might happen Tuesday. The bid of $945,000, submitted by Rink-Tec of Little Canada, was $25,000 below estimate.

"You gotta be pleased," said Council President Dan Beranek. "They were excellent bids, very competitive. When they're that tightly grouped, you know that you're getting good, solid bids."

Six of the seven base bids submitted came in at under $10 million. Greystone Construction Co., Shakopee, submitted the second lowest base bid of $9,553,000. When alternates were added, the firm's total bid was $10,075,700. Four other firms' base bids ranged from $9.6 million to $9,749,000.

Councilor Joel Albrecht called the bid opening result "fantastic." And Councilor Ron Fleischmann was relieved.

"We don't have to buy the base model car; now we can get one with options."

The three council members were happy to see a local construction firm get the bid.

"It's nice to see the money will be staying in town," Albrecht said.

While pleased that there were seven bidders on the project, Rozeboom was a little disappointed there weren't more.

"We were working with 13 potential bidders three weeks into the process, but seven is still a good number."

The council referred the bids to staff for tabulation. The bids will be analyzed and reviewed with the council at a noon meeting on Monday, Dec. 17. The construction project bids, as well as the bid on rink and equipment, will be awarded at the council's regular meeting Tuesday, Dec. 18.