City prepares Circle garage contracts

St. Armands Circle businesses and property owners remain eager about plans for a new parking garage in the area.

City staff is working on finalizing an agreement with a project architect and contractor.

After reviewing proposals, the city is negotiating with Kimley-Horn and Associates to design the project and Jon F. Swift Construction to build the structure.

Parking Manager Mark Lyons said staff hoped to present contracts to the City Commission for final review on Dec. 5, though the process is subject to delay. The St. Armands stakeholders involved with selecting the companies were happy with both firms.

“I think we’ve got a good team to move forward on the garage,” said Diana Corrigan, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association. “I think we’re in a good place.”

Earlier, staff estimated the project would cost $14.9 million and could be completed by December 2018. In addition to constructing a 521-space garage at the site of the municipal parking garage on North Adams Drive, the project would involve burying utility lines and adding new signage and median end caps.

Although the proposals expressed some optimism that the project could be complete before December 2018, Lyons said it’s too early to say whether that timeline and budget could be substantially revised.

“Until there’s a contract, they don’t really do more estimates,” Lyons said. “They do preliminary work, but that’s all falling in line with our initial estimates.”

Staff is still in the process of coordinating with Florida Power and Light to get an updated cost estimate on burying power lines. Although the city is waiting for that information, Lyons said the project seems to be moving along smoothly.