The Sherburne County Government Center expansion and renovation project will get underway in two weeks.

 

Tuesday, the county commissioners approved the bid for Phase 1 of the project - site work. That includes excavating, utilities, some electrical work, concrete and asphalt paving.

 

The overall cost of the project is now about $1.65 million lower than estimated in May. 

 

“We’re happy to report that the design development estimate is at $61,849,203, which is under our schematic design estimate of $63.5 million,” said Construction Manager Pat Sims of Adolfson & Peterson.  

 

The base bid for the first phase is $1,792,220. The board also approved three alternates to the first phase. The first two are the mill and overlay of the existing west parking lot ($22,650) and mill and overlay of the existing access drive ($8,500).

 

Sims said it made sense to overlay the two areas at the beginning of the project.

 

“If you were to come back and do that work later it would be a disruption to the county. You’d have to block off traffic,” he said. “And the prices are very economical. It will no be cheaper if you wait.”

 

 The other alternate is the construction of a service road on the south side of the county property at a cost of $135,000. That road will be built using Class 5 gravel and will be paved later during the course of the project and used as the future main entrance.

 

Sims said even with the alternates, the base bid was more than $240,000 under budget. He said 16 bids were received for the sitework.

 

The board also approved the design development  plans and estimate of $61,849,203. That number could change as the architects and engineer continue to seek more cost savings.

 

“The estimate in front of you is an estimate. It is not necessarily where the bids are going to be on bid day,” said Sims. “That is our estimate of the current documents and how we see the market conditions and those type of factors.”

 

Sims said market conditions appear to be favorable for moving forward in the next few months.

 

“Prices in the industry are starting to level off,” he said. “Actually, nationwide, prices are coming down.”

 

The next bid package will be for structural steel and putting in foundations. Sims said those bids will come back in October.

 

He said the final bid package for the remaining work will come before the board in late January or early February.

 

The expansion project is expected to solve the county’s  growth needs through 2027. The project incudes the construction of a new three-story courts building and renovations to the existing Government Center building.