Upper Arlington officials expect to put a final piece of the community center project in place before year’s end by hiring Elford Inc. as construction manager.
After 80% of voters in the May 4 primary election authorized the city to build a community center, Upper Arlington officials began to assemble a team to make the project at the Kingsdale Shopping Center a reality.
On May 24, Upper Arlington City Council approved a $2.12 million contract for Pizzuti Solutions to serve as owner’s representative. As such, the division of Columbus-based The Pizzuti Cos. is responsible for providing a range of services throughout the design and construction phases, including project oversight, schedule and budget management, procurement assistance, design review, construction oversight and closeout assistance.
On Aug. 30, council approved a $5.8 million contract for Cincinnati-based MSA Sport to design the facility.
A proposal by City Manager Steve Schoeny and Jeff Anderson, the city’s park development and arts superintendent, is before council for the city to pay Columbus-based Elford Inc. approximately $1.67 million for a range of services, including material and systems cost analysis, regular budget validation, detailed constructability reviews and other planning services.
“We hired Pizzuti Solutions to be the group that helps us manage all the other (project) contracts,” Schoeny said. “It’s kind of a best practice when you’re doing a project of this scale.
“(Elford) is what’s called a construction manager. They are going to be the ones who are responsible for getting it built, for hiring the contractors that pour the concrete and do all the different kinds of (construction) stuff.”
Council heard the first reading of legislation for the Elford contract Dec. 6 and no council members have opposed the proposal. After the second reading Dec. 13, it’s expected to be approved at council’s Dec. 20 meeting.
The contract calls for Elford to be assisted by Columbus-based Continental Building Co., which is managing the construction of a seven-story senior housing apartment building at Kingsdale Center. That construction site neighbors the site of the community center.
“I have a vast knowledge of the job site,” said Adam Muth, a project manager for Continental Building Co. “We’re working through conceptual designs and getting ready to transition to schematic designs in the upcoming weeks.”
Anderson said Elford/Continental is being recommended because of its track record in projects logistics and site coordination.
“They also have great previous experience,” he said. “They recently wrapped up the Linden Community Center for the city of Columbus, have experience in community center and rec center-type facilities, as well as high-rise and mid-rise facilities.”
Anderson added that Elford/Continental has committed to meeting the city’s goal of subcontracting at least 15% of the construction contracts to minority- and female-owned businesses.
The construction team is charged with designing and building an approximately 95,300-square-foot community center that will feature multiple gymnasiums, a swimming pool, a running track and spaces for senior citizen programming.
Additionally, the facility is expected to have about 50,000 square feet of office space that will be leased to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Final designs are expected to be announced at the Feb. 17 State of the City address.
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