by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The City will meet with contractors Monday to plan Bay Street Town Center renovations. The work will start about a month later than the City originally planned, but will follow an accelerated work schedule to finish near the end of the year, according to the Public Works Department.
That schedule will have the street finished at least a month ahead of the Feb. 6 Super Bowl. The mayor’s office envisions Bay Street as the City’s premier entertainment district, and is counting on the corridor to help provide a nightlife component of the City’s Super Bowl presentation.
“The project will be finished before this year is over,” said Public Works spokesperson Sherry Hall. “We will be ready for the Super Bowl.”
That the City will go ahead with construction indicates the project’s importance to City Hall. Mayor John Peyton has ordered work stopped on several similar projects to ensure construction doesn’t mar the City’s appearance in February, when the game is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors.
The City hired Hinson Electric and Onas, a minority-owned contractor, to do the work, which will include widening sidewalks, landscaping and installing historic lighting. The City will pay Onas $450,000 to renovate the street and sidewalks. Hinson was awarded the electrical work with a bid of $240,000.
The City originally intended to expedite work by skipping the bidding process and negotiating a price for the entire project with Onas, which is already under contract with the City. However, an opinion from the General Counsel’s Office found that Onas’ contract limited the general contractor to projects under $500,000. To follow its own purchasing guidelines, the City was advised to allow competitive bids for the electrical work and landscaping.
Hinson’s bid kept the cost of the project around the City’s original estimates, but the bidding process pushed construction back by more than a month. Public Works Deputy Director Ed Hall told the City Council in June that an August start would be “near catastrophic” for a pre-Super Bowl completion. But Hall said an “accelerated work schedule” would finish the project in time.
That schedule is yet to be determined, but if overtime work becomes necessary, Hall said it wouldn’t increase the cost to the City. Further complicating the timeline is Bay Street’s importance as a downtown artery during Jacksonville Jaguars home games. Hall said the contractors would keep the road as serviceable as possible and said work would be cleared out for game day weekends.