The Lenexa City Council awarded the team of McCownGordon Construction LLC and Finkle + Williams a design-build contract for a new Municipal Services Department fleet facility at the site of the current facility at 7700 Cottonwood St.
The city budgeted $6 million for the project as part of its 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Program and will fund it through the issuance of general obligation bonds. The council voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to award the contract to McCownGordon and Finkle + Williams, with city staff’s recommendation.
[pullquote]Anticipated project timeline
• Spring 2018: Notice to proceed.
• Summer 2018: Complete design phase and establish guaranteed maximum price (subject to council approval).
• Fall 2018 and late winter 2019: Two open house community meetings on the project.
• Fall 2018: Start construction.
• Summer 2019: Substantial completion.
[/pullquote]The new facility will be more than double the size of the current one – roughly 20,250 square feet compared to about 9,760 square feet – and it will include maintenance bays, an office area, a break room, a parts room, a storage area and other areas, according to a Tuesday memo to the council from Nick Arena, director of the Municipal Services Department. All maintenance and repair of the city’s entire fleet and small equipment will be handled at the facility.
“Routine maintenance and emergency service work is very challenging for the
Mechanics (at the current facility) due to inadequate lighting levels, equipment not fitting into the building which requires staff to work on equipment outside in all weather conditions, and low ceiling heights that limit the capabilities of working on certain pieces of equipment,” according to the memo.
The current facility will be used to store equipment and materials, said Charlie Love, assistant director of Municipal Services.
The city advertised a request for qualifications for the project on Nov. 16, 2017, and received statements of qualifications from 13 teams. A committee of five staff members from various city departments reviewed the submittals, and five teams were short-listed for interviews. Those teams, in addition to McCownGordon and Finkle + Williams, were JE Dunn Construction and Rosemann, Burns & McDonnell, Turner Construction Co. and PGAV, and A.L. Huber General Contractor and Bowman Novick.
McCownGordon, based in Kansas City, Mo., and Finkle + Williams, based in Overland Park, have worked together for 20 years on more than 25 projects with a combined value of $80 million. They have done projects for several local governments, including Johnson and Douglas counties, Overland Park and Mission. The team also has designed and built other, similar fleet facilities.
The design-build construction-delivery method is an alternative to the traditional design-bid-build delivery and will enable the city and the companies to better integrate their efforts, reduce costs and speed up the project’s completion, the memo said.