ENID — Enid City Commission Thursday approved a $20 million appropriation to the city’s capital improvement fund for the downtown Enid Renaissance Project, although that appropriation may not be sufficient to do all of the Convention Hall renovations that have been discussed.
Also approved during a special meeting was a guaranteed maximum price of $20 million with Flintco LLC, which is the contractor at risk for the project. Flintco has guaranteed the city the Renaissance work outlined in the contract will not cost more than $20 million or Flintco is responsible for the remaining amount.
The main part of the Renaissance project is building a new event center downtown. It also calls for renovating Convention Hall.
The votes Thursday, though, do not commit the city to doing all of, or only, the work listed in the guaranteed maximum price agreement.
The Flintco contract covers construction of the event center and Phase 1 of work at Convention Hall, said Code Director Chris Bauer. Phase 1 is projected to be installing a commercial kitchen in Convention Hall’s basement.
Other plans discussed for Convention Hall include keeping the stage for performances and creating a large ballroom with chandeliers and link to the event center. The second through fourth floors in Convention Hall will be remodeled into meeting space with restroom areas.
Flintco’s project design development estimate came out at $9.2 million for a complete renovation of Convention Hall and $19.4 million for the events center — a total of $28.6 million.
Ward 2 Commissioner Don Rose agreed the city’s goal of $20 million will not pay for building the event center and the entire design concept of Convention Hall.
Commissioners likely are to wait several months before making a commitment on how extensive and expensive Convention Hall renovations will be.
City Manager Eric Benson and commissioners said the event center and Convention Hall will be completed by 2012. However, what is unknown at this time is how much each of the projects will cost. The numbers won’t be known until the bids come in, with initial bids to come in this summer.
“That’s when we will have some hard numbers,” Rose said. “We’ve always said $20 million was the maximum amount, but we’ve never said it would do both.”
Rose said he expects bids will show considerable savings as they come in during the next 60 days, although a $9 million price tag for Convention Hall work probably is too high. A $5 million project probably is more in line with what is feasible, he said.
“We said we could come up with $20 million to do the downtown area,” Benson said. “What can we do for $20 million? Preliminary architects’ estimates call for $17 million to $20 million for the entire project, so commissioners requested a guaranteed maximum price to determine the top limit of construction costs.”
But that is only one part of the equation, he said. The city will bid those items, and any savings from lower-than-expected bids will be available to the city to invest in other elements of the project. Plus, Benson said, the commission has not committed to specific elements of the proposed event center and Convention Hall renovation.
“All of the plans are available for review when we get the bids back,” he said.
Benson referred to the city’s track record of savings in other projects done recently, including the new sewer plant, which was expected to cost $50 million but will cost about $36 million, and recent bridge projects that cost less than original estimates.
Benson said the commission may have several funding options when it comes to deciding later this year how much to spend on Convention Hall. Options include:
• Some $3.5 million in federal new market tax credits.
• Savings from event center construction bids coming in below estimates.
• Additional appropriations.
• Not spending all of a contingency fund commonly included in large construction projects.
“We have $2 million worth of contingency in the plan. That’s another $2 million for Convention Hall,” Benson said.
However, he said commissioners will need to balance remodeling costs and benefits.
“We have to ask what we will do in Convention Hall for that cost and what makes the most sense,” Benson said.
The bottom line, he said, is nothing has changed in the city’s commitment to do build a new events center and renovate Convention Hall.
Mayor John Criner said he could not rule out the possibility $20 million would cover both projects. Depending on how the bids come in, he said, both Convention Hall renovations and the new event center could fit within the $20 million appropriated Thursday.
Criner said at each commission meeting he emphasized the project was for the event center and/or Convention Hall.
“I’m hoping the bids will come in considerably under the price and we will get to do a lot more, but until we get the Flintco estimates on everything, we won’t know,” Criner said.
During the meeting, Rose reminded residents the city is not borrowing money to do the downtown projects.
Voting Thursday also included appropriating $109,000 for Convention Hall asbestos removal and awarding AMX Environmental of Dallas a contract for that work.
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