$5.4 million Civic Center repair contract on April 6 City Commission agenda
The City Commission will consider the contract for the Civic Center façade repair project during their April 6 meeting.
They were initially scheduled to make that decision during their March 16 meeting, but staff asked them to delay the vote to April 6 to allow staff more time to conduct a more detailed analysis of the bids.
The city received six bids on March 3 with prices ranging from $7,973,789 to $5,411,682.
Talisman Construction Services, Inc. of Spokane, Wash., submitted the low bid, which is about 4.23 percent below the architect’s estimate, with a base bid and four additive alternates to allow for the possibility of budget limitations, according to city staff.
Staff is recommending that commissioners award the contract to Talisman.
Commissioners approve use of TIF funds for $8 million Civic Center repair project
The city has the budget authority of $6 million for the project, by commission resolution, and the sale of tax increment bonds from the downtown tax increment financing district fund.
Commissioners approve use of TIF funds for $8 million Civic Center repair project
Commissioners could chose not to award the contract, or rebid the project, but according to staff, neither of those options would be favorable to the city.
City officials have discussed the need to repair the Civic Center façade since at least 2011 and in June 2020, City Manager Greg Doyon restricted access to the front of the Civic Center due to public safety concerns.
A piece of the back panel became dislodged, triggering the evaluation of other areas around the Civic Center, including “substantial cracking and buckling of the front panels,” according to the city.
As a precaution, the city installed barricades to protect the public from falling debris.
The Civic Center building was built in the 1930s, under the Works Progress Administration. The Works Progress Administration was renamed in 1939 to the Work Projects Administration, according to the city’s history of the building. The program was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential order and funded by Congress with passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act on April 8, 1935.
Downtown Group recommends approval of TIF funds for Civic Center repairs
Construction would be done in four phases, in 578 calendar days, according to the staff report, and include:
- Phase one: East entry temporary protection phase. Work on this phase would be substantially complete prior to any building envelope work progressing
- Phase two: Envelope repair, façade cast stone and cast stone trim replacement and backup wall improvements/reinforcement (all sides)
- Phase three: East entry stair and accessories replacement/repair
- Phase four: Roof replacement.
In 2011, architects performed a full analysis of the façade due to noticeable cracking and buckling of the panels and brick mortar cracking. Their report made recommendations for repairs and at the time, construction costs were estimated at $3.5 million.
In 2016, the city hired CTA Architects to review the 2011 report and perform an additional analysis. Their report included recommendations for repairs.
They city published the request for qualifications in February 2017 and in October 2017, the City Commission approved a $494,060 professional services agreement with CTA for architectural and engineering design services for repairs to the façade of the Civic Center.
In 2017, the city hired CTA Architects to complete full architectural and engineering bid and construction drawings for the façade and replacement of the roof.
In recent years, some of the cast stone concrete panels have been deteriorating, there’s exposed rebar that’s corroding and “massive cracking,” Tony Houtz told commissioners in June 2019. Houtz is an architect with Cushing Terrell formerly known as CTA Architects Engineers.
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“This project will replace large portions of the cast stone façade with new cast stone to match the existing pieces that will remain. The front stairs will be replaced and some mechanical upgrades to modern, high efficiency mechanical equipment will occur in the base bid. If alternative bid items one through three are accepted, all the roof membranes will be removed, mechanical units on the roof will be removed to raise mechanical curbs, roof drains will be replaced, new roof membrane installed and mechanical units will be re-set for the roof covering the entire Civic Center,” according to the staff report.
In February, commissioners approved the issuance and sale of up to $6 million in tax increment bonds.
The city is bonding against the Downtown Urban Renewal Tax Increment Financing District to fund project and that will extend the tax increment district for 13 years.
The TIF funds will be used to pay the annual debt service, an estimated $441,490.50.
In December, commissioners voted to authorize the use of up to $8.82 million in TIF funds, which includes interest on the debt for the project.
The resolution approved in February established the terms, conditions and documentation for the sale of up to $6 million in tax increment bonds to D.A. Davidson and Company.
City officials and the city’s outside bond counsel, Dorsey and Whitney, developed those terms and conditions and the purchase price, redemption features and interest rate on the bonds will be subject to the following, according to the staff report:
- the aggregate principal amount of the bonds won’t exceed $6 million;
- the maximum true interest cost on the Series 2021 Bonds shall not exceed 4.5 percent;
- the purchase price of the Series 2021 Bonds shall not be less than 99 percent of the principal amount
thereof, exclusive of original issue premium or discount; and - the final maturity of the Series 2021 Bonds shall not be later than 20 years from their date of
issuance.
The form of the bonds and final terms and conditions are also up for consideration by the City Commission during the April 6 meeting.
In late January 2019, most commissioners said repairing the Civic Center façade was among their top priorities.
City restricting to access to Civic Center as front panels cracking, buckling
During the June 2019 meeting, Craig Raymond, city planning director, and Doyon again walked the commission through the engineering report on the Civic Center and estimated $5.5 million project that would include replacing the roof, which has been an issue for the building for years, and replacing the façade panels that have been failing, creating a potential safety hazard as they continue to deteriorate.
Staff now anticipate that “COVID has had a significant effect on construction material costs as well as availability of labor. As such, we have revised the estimate to $6.2 million,” according to the staff report for the Feb. 2 meeting.
Initially, city officials said they would likely need to send the project to a public vote for a bond, but then proposed to use funds from the Downtown Tax Increment Financing District to back a revenue bond and pay the debt service.
The use of the TIF as a funding mechanism has rankled some in the business community, particularly those downtown, but city officials hold that it’s an appropriate use of those funds as public infrastructure, which is spelled out in the state laws governing TIFs.
City considering options for Civic Center façade repairs
“I understand what people are saying when they express reservations about the Civic Center using those funds, but there’s no question in my mind when you look at the statutory language, it actually puts a preference and an emphasis on public infrastructure and facilities,” Raymond said during the September Downtown Development Partnership meeting. “I don’t think anybody could argue that there isn’t a heavy emphasis on public facilities” in the statute.
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If the TIF did not exist, those funds would have been in the general fund to support city operations and the use of the TIF prevents the city from having to go to voters for a bond, which would raise taxes on all property owners for the duration of the bond, city officials have said.
Fire stations, Mansfield seats, Civic Center repairs: odds and ends from recent public meetings
Some in the business community have asked the city to consider expanding the use of downtown TIF funds to private developers for certain code compliance, façade and crime prevention through environmental design projects.
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The Civic Center includes the Convention Center and the Mansfield Theater, and Raymond said in August that “it would be a disservice to dismiss the positive effect those facilities have on the downtown.”
