On May 9, 2020, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) issued RFQ 20-014 for the Design and Construction of a parking garage on Acorn Street near US Hwy 19. The deadline for responses was June 19, 2020. The CRA received 9 submittals to the RFQ from a host of very qualified firms. City staff reviewed the submittals and assigned a score to each. Scores were based on four areas of criteria which included, experience and availability of developer team, design experience, financial capacity and qualifications of team members assigned to this project.
On June 26, 2020, city staff convened to total the scores and create a short list of the top 5 respondents. Those top five respondents were invited to present to city staff, via GoToMeeting, on July 7, 2020. All five respondents provided a thirty minute presentation as well as engaged in a thirty minute question and answer session. At the conclusion of the presentations, staff totaled their scores and ranked the firms.
The rankings were as follows:
- Kokolakis Contracting, Fisher Architects, Dura-Stress, Inc., Vickstrom Engineering Services, Inc.
- Ajax Building Company, Harvard Jolly Architecture, Engineering Matrix, Inc., Penoni Associates, Inc., Coastal Design Consultants, Coreslab Structures
- Keenan Development Group, Chinook Construction, Inc., FINFROCK
- R.R. Simmons Construction Corporation
- Core Construction, Pre-con Construction of Florida, TimHaahs, Structured Parking Solutions, Kimley Horn & Associates
The number one ranked team consists of Kokolakis Contracting, Fisher Architects, Dura-Stress and Vickstrom Engineering. Together, this team completed the North Beach Parking Plaza in Clearwater Beach. They offer the City a proven track record in the successful design and construction of similar projects. Kokolakis has been in business since 1972 and is a very well respected local company. Fisher has completed hundreds of parking garages nationwide for local municipalities and private clients. Dura-Stress is a pioneer in the development of prestressed concrete components and has designed and constructed some of the most complex parking garages. Vickstrom specializes in site design and has worked with all local permitting agencies to obtain permits in a timely manner to keep projects on schedule.
Having worked in Pasco County and the Tampa Bay area for forty-eight years, Kokolakis understands local codes and ordinances. Their Tarpon Springs office employs more than forty-five local project managers, superintendents, and craft workers. Fisher Architects is located in Clearwater, Dura-Stress in Leesburg and Vickstrom Engineering in St. Petersburg.
Staff conducted in-depth reference checks and all responses were quite favorable for the firms involved with the Kokolakis Contracting Design Build team.
By the way, Kokolakis Contracting indicated during the interviews that they can construct a parking structure containing 375 parking spaces for the project budget and additionally that some commercial space would be housed on the northside of the first floor space. In short, this means that the CRA would be paying about $17.334 per space which is providing 25 more spaces than what was specified in the project documents and is a very competitive rate. Should the CRA Board approve the rankings as submitted, the Executive Director will negotiate a contract for the design and construction of the parking garage with Kokolakis Contracting as the top ranked firm.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the ranking of the top five respondents to RFQ 20-014 for the Design and Construction of a Parking Structure and authorize the Executive Director to negotiate a contract with the top ranked firm.
BUDGET / FISCAL IMPACT:
The project will be delivered on a guaranteed maximum price basis and the amount is $6,500,000 which will be paid for through the sale of public bonds.