PBC Awards Contract To Rebuild Grant Park Garage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 13, 2001
Contact: Terry Levin
(312) 744-9277

A $28.8 million contract was awarded Tuesday by the Public Building Commission of Chicago to complete the rebuilding of the 38-year-old Grant Park South underground garage, with work scheduled to begin in mid-March.

Winning the contract was McHugh/Riteway Joint Venture, the lowest of four bidders on the project. The venture's $28,886,000 bid came in just under the PBC's $28.9 million estimate for the work, according to executive director Eileen Carey.

The contract includes rebuilding the majority of the garage, about one-third of which was renovated four years ago. Also included in this new work will be reconfiguration of the Michigan Avenue entrance and exit ramps; reconstruction of the Michigan Avenue and Jackson Street roadways over the garage; and installation of median planters on Michigan Avenue.

Construction on the garage is expected to last until September 2002, when it will reopen with 1,300 parking spaces. Work on the roadbeds, which will require lane closures on Michigan and Jackson, won't begin until after this summer's Taste of Chicago to minimize traffic congestion during that hugely popular event and will be completed by Thanksgiving 2002.

Although the parking spaces in the current Grant Park South Garage will be unavailable during construction, there are 1,800 spaces in the Grant Park North Garage that reopened last November after its renovation; 3,800 spaces in the East Monroe Garage; and there will be at least 800 new spaces by mid-March in the Millennium Park garage, portions of which are still under construction.

McHugh/Riteway committed to hiring a high level of minority workers on the project, including 40% of the journeymen, 50% of the apprentices and 50% of the laborers. Another 7% and 10% of those positions are to be filled by women and at least half of the on-site work force is required to consist of Chicago residents, according to Mayor Richard M. Daley, who chairs the PBC.

The other three bidders were Walsh/II in One Joint Venture, which came in second with its $30,831,000 bid; F.H. Paschen/S.N. Nielsen, with a bid of $32,194,000; and Castle Construction, which bid $37,261,400.

Renovation of Grant Park South Garage is not part of the city's Millennium Park project.