Taft Technology Center completion is delayed
Finishing the project by its original completion date would be too costly.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A downtown property redevelopment agency overseeing the Taft Technology Center said the project's completion date will be delayed by about four months.
The Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. rejected all six proposals to design and construct the center Feb. 12. The reasons were the proposals cost more money than the agency has to build the high-technology center or they didn't address all the provisions in the request for proposal.
Despite the delay by having to seek proposals a second time, CIC officials repeatedly said that would have no impact on the Dec. 17 completion date.
That was until Friday when Jan Seidler, CIC president, said the completion date is now March 15, 2008.
"We had to push back the completion date because we were told the cost would have gone up through overtime and/or we would have lost a number of bidders" seeking to do the work because of the shorter construction period, he said. "We don't want to pay extra, so we pushed it back."
No extra funds
The CIC doesn't have the luxury of paying extra for the high-tech facility.
The agency received 5.9 million in state and federal money for the technology center, and after demolition and other work, it has about 5 million left to construct the three-story structure.
The CIC will advertise for proposals Monday and April 2 with a mandatory pre-bid conference set for April 4 for companies interested in submitting proposals. The CIC will open the proposals April 11, and its staff will take about a week to recommend a company for the project.
The center, named after ex-Gov. Bob Taft, is to be built between the Youngstown Business Incubator and the vacant Semple Building on West Federal Street, just east of the Home Savings and Loan building.
skolnick@vindy.com