More change orders for Marquette Park project
By Michael Gonzalez Post-Tribune correspondent June 27, 2012 1:42PM
Closed off
The temporary full-street closures will be:
Locust Street and Montgomery: July 5-9
Oak Avenue and North Newton Street: July 5-9
North Grand Boulevard and Forest Avenue: July 6-8
Locust Avenue and North Newton Street: 4 p.m.-midnight July 6
Locust Avenue and North Newton Streey: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 7
Indian Boundary and Morgan Street: 4 p.m.-midnight July 6
Indian Boundary and Morgan Street: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 7
Updated: July 29, 2012 5:05PM
GARY- The Board of Public Works and Safety Wednesday approved a number of contracts and nearly $600,000 in change orders for the high-profile Marquette Park Lakefront East project and announced street closures for the annual Gary Air Show.
Board members signed four contracts that were approved two months ago, a reasonable amount of time given the contracts also must go before the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, which funded the $28 million project, said Gary Planning Director Dwayne Williams.
Gariup Construction, of Gary, was awarded $3.1 million in the final phase, while Hubinger Landscaping, of Crown Point, landed an $800,000 contract for the work. Gary-based Rieth-Riley, a frequent winner of contracts in the city, will do paving work for $966,000, and Great Lakes Electrical Maintenance will get more than $1.5 million for lights and other electrical work.
The Marquette Park project has been flooded with change-order requests, and the Board of Works approved nearly $600,000 in more change orders Wednesday. Among them, Mechanical Concepts, of Gary, charged the project $61,761 for extra rough-in work on the second-floor kitchen of the Marquette Park Pavilion, while Gariup charged an extra $267,000 for masonry and site modification work.
Another change order was for banquet chairs. The city picked up the chairs rather than bid them out to make sure the chairs would be ready for the busy wedding season at the pavilion, Williams said.
“We kind of fast-tracked (the chairs) so everyone can enjoy them and enjoy the events at the pavilion,” he said, adding many of the old chairs were stained and unfit for use.
Gariup also charged additional for “lost productivity.” Contractors often have to wait for others to finish their work before they can proceed, and that often causes delays, explained Williams.
The contractors quantified such delays and passed those expenses on in some of the change orders.
The board also approved the list of street closures for the Gary Air Show.
