Construction bids for new library under estimate

CEDAR RAPIDS - Construction bids for the city's new library were opened at City Hall this afternoon and revealed good news for the project.

The apparent low bids for the project's general contract and for the project's electrical and mechanical contracts beat the city's pre-bid estimates by $3.6 million even with four project extras factored in the bid totals.

The city's pre-bid estimate was $24.65 million for the general, electrical and mechanical contracts, with the apparent low bids on the three contracts together totaling $21 million.

City Council member Chuck Swore, chairman of the council's Infrastructure Committee, said the bid numbers were good news for the library project, which has a total expected budget of $49 million including design, engineering, furniture, books and other contents.

"I'm tickled to death," Swore said of the construction bids. "I think it's a very good situation for this facility. We've taken a big step with under-budget numbers."

A first examination of the bid numbers show that Knutson Construction of Iowa City submitted the apparent low bid - base bid plus four add-ons - for the general contract that was just $6,956 lower than the bid from Kleiman Construction Co. of Cedar Rapids. Knutson's bid totaled $14,235,000 for the project's general contract, Kleiman's, $14,241,956.