Council accepts bid for College Station parking deck

Council accepted DeWitt and Associates’ $8.69 million bid for construction of College Station’s park deck. The bid clears the way for work to begin on the facility, which will create 35,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor and nearly 400 parking spaces on the four upper floors.

DeWitt’s bid was within 0.3 percent of the estimate from engineer Desman Associates for the cost of the project.

An amendment to the $12 million College Station project, however, was tabled until council’s Nov. 13 meeting. City Economic Development Director Mary Lilly Smith said the delay is a simple matter of finalizing paperwork and should not hold up construction of the parking deck; Smith added that a notice to proceed on construction will be issued by mid-December.

Arena plans nixed

Council permanently shelved another proposed project downtown.

By a unanimous vote, council scrapped the plan for a multipurpose arena in Jordan Valley Park and directed city staff to prepare an amendment to the Jordan Valley Park Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan, opening the proposed arena property for other developments.

The city will eventually issue requests for proposals for the property, located between the Springfield Expo Center and the Jordan Valley Car Park.

The change of plan comes as a result of an agreement, also approved by council during the meeting, with Missouri State University that allows the city to use the school’s existing Hammons Student Center. City staff said that agreement makes a downtown arena redundant.

“We don’t have a plan for what’s going in to this location at this time,” Councilwoman Mary Collette said at the meeting. “But by what we’re doing tonight, it clears the way for something to occur.”

Also at the meeting:

• Council voted 7-2 to keep Jefferson and Campbell avenues as one-way streets in center city. The decision upholds Urban Districts Alliance’s recommendation, which was based on two factors: the $4 million projected cost of changing the streets to allow two-way traffic, and a survey of property owners and stakeholders in the area that said 70 percent preferred one-way traffic.

As a result, the $1.5 million available for the street project from the city’s quarter-cent capital improvement sales tax will be used for traffic-easing projects on the two streets, along with streetscape projects, way-finding signage and parking improvements.

• Council approved a ballot item for the Feb. 6 election, asking for renewal of the aforementioned quarter-cent tax. The tax, which comes up for renewal every three years, would generate an estimated $30 million for capital improvement projects over three years if approved.[[In-content Ad]]