Crime lab plans change due to cost

Council reviewed plans for a pared-down crime lab, after bids came in nearly double what was expected for the renovation of the old L.E. Cox Building at 440 E. Tampa St.

The initial target: $4 million. The base bids and $1.1 million budgeted for alternates brought the cost to $7.5 million, said Phil Broyles, the city’s assistant director of public works for operations.

The lab’s new design features less expensive mechanical systems and finishes inside the building, reducing the cost estimate to $5.5 million. It also does not include a wall of windows from the original design, for which bids came in at about $750,000. Broyles said bids will be issued in January.

Broyles attributed the increase to two factors: continually rising costs of building materials due to rebuilding in the Gulf Coast region and expansion in China, and the number of other city projects currently under way.

“Subcontractors either have to work overtime or put on more crews – things that they may or may not want to do,” Broyles said. “Usually, the way to offset that is by raising the price – they’ll do it for a price.”

Creative Ink Architects and Buxton-Kubik-Dodd Inc. collaborated on the design.

The changes also push back the construction timetable by about four months. Broyles said the project, which is expected to take about 15 months, should now start in April and be complete by summer 2008.

Heer’s on parade

While the Heer’s building awaits a developer to restore it to its former glory, city staff and council members toured the downtown stalwart Jan. 9, examining the abatement and demolition work done by former owner Vaughn Prost.

Prost, who ceded the building to the city Dec. 18, is one of three developers vying for the rights to redevelop the former department store on Park Central Square. A fourth developer, Magers Management Co., told the city Jan. 5 that the company was no longer interested in pursuing the redevelopment project.

Mary Lilly Smith, the city’s economic development director, said Magers told the city the decision was purely “for business reasons.”

With Magers dropping out of the race, the list of contenders is now three: Prost’s Springfield Office Building LLC, McGowan-Walsh of St. Louis and Restoration St. Louis.

Smith said she’s not overly concerned that there are no local developers in the running.

“Prior to accepting the statements of qualification, we sent information to a lot of local developers, and I took a lot of local developers through that building,” Smith said. “They all took a pass on it – we gave everyone an opportunity.”

She added that local developers cited the building’s size as a factor, as well as previous commitments to other projects.

After a re-examination of the three contenders’ qualifications, the city will request proposals from them in the next few weeks, Smith said, saying she expects to receive the proposals by early March.

Other activity:

• During its Jan. 8 meeting, council approved a $1.1 million contract with Georgia-based LaserCraft Inc. to install at least eight red-light cameras at intersections across the city.

The system, which could eventually include as many as 16 cameras, will be installed first at the southbound approach to the intersection of National Avenue and Battlefield Road.

The city says the goal of the system is to modify driver behavior and reduce the number of crashes – and resulting injuries and fatalities – caused by motorists who run red lights.