YOUNGSTOWN City opens plaza bids

The low bid and administrative costs would fall just below $2.5 million.
& lt;a href=mailto:rgsmith@vindy.com & gt;By ROGER SMITH & lt;/a & gt;
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bids are low enough that the city likely can avoid borrowing money to reopen Federal Street to traffic.
The city opened bids Tuesday for the long-awaited downtown project, estimated to cost $2.78 million.
The apparent low bidder is Parella-Pannunzio of Youngstown at $2,059,760.29.
The city has about $2.5 million for the project. A federal grant provides $2 million. The state is providing $500,000. The city planned to borrow several hundred thousand dollars, but if the low bid stands, that might not be necessary.
Administrative costs
There will be $350,000 to $400,000 in administrative costs besides construction, said Carmen Conglose Jr., the city's deputy director of public works.
Still, the low bid and extra costs would fall just below $2.5 million.
The other bidders were:
UA.P. O'Horo of Liberty, $2.14 million.
UMarucci and Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown, $2,226,860.11.
UJoe Lofaro Concrete of Girard, $2,275,885.64.
It will take a month to review the bids and award a contract, Conglose said. Work is to start about March 15 and finish by Dec. 22.
The project includes removing the pedestrian plaza and reopening Federal Street, one of downtown's main streets, to traffic.
The project will feature a four-way intersection with traffic signals where Market Street and Wick Avenue meet at Federal Street. There also will be about 100 diagonal parking spaces on Federal.
Conglose wasn't surprised by the low bids. Thirty companies considered bidding, many more than usual, he said. "That indicates a high level of interest," he said.
Why bids are low
Conglose sees two reasons for the low bids. First, Federal Street is a high-profile project. Second, there aren't as many large projects to bid on this year in the area, he said.
Parella-Pannunzio is familiar with Federal Street and the plaza. The company installed part of the plaza in the 1970s. The company also removed a western section of the pedestrian walkway in 1990, Conglose said.
Money issues have delayed the project, which the city has been working to accomplish for nearly seven years. The city expected to award a construction contract in the fall of 2002, but more design work and money were needed.
A year ago, a regional committee that doles out state funds turned down a $946,000 city request to complete funding for the project. The city threatened a lawsuit.
The city dropped the suit threat when the Ohio Department of Development agreed to provide the $500,000, with the city borrowing the rest.
The city hit another snag last summer. The Ohio Department of Transportation added a few extra procedures to the process.
"It's kind of gratifying to get to this point," Conglose said. "I think the hard part is done now."
& lt;a href=mailto:rgsmith@vindy.com & gt;rgsmith@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;