GUARANTEED MAXIMUM PRICE: The Big ASU Dig @ Pepper Place

(View looking northeast to intersection of Centennial Drive/1st Street. Cimarron Apartments in the backdrop)

Rising above the virtual reality of an image of the proposed ASU Creative Futures Lab on the rent-a-fence barricades behind Mesa City Hall Plaza - it's a big blue rig of some kind - perhaps a drilling rig - it's definitely way too soon to see one more crane here in downtown.
Mounds of earth got moved making some dust in the early Monday morning haze . . .

Hard to say exactly what's there now after ground was broken months ago, so let's let the images deliver the optics when new supplies and big equipment moved on-site during the recorded-shattering heat of the past weekend for more sub-contracting work to do all the underground installation of a new network infrastructure and relocation of city-owned utilities services for the leasing of one existing vacant 1970's-era building needing to get renovated inside. No signs of laying the foundation of a proposed 3-story structure of one new city-owned construction to lease out to,  ASU originally-priced at $64M and financed by Mesa taxpayer-funded debt obligations in the 2018 General Election.

The dust of controversies over that hotly-contested, privately-financed Public Relations campaign had hardly settled when city officials came back to ask the Mesa City Council for approval of million$$$$$$$ more . . the most recent "GUARANTEED MAXIMUM PRICE" was one more GMP that was Item 5-g to approve a $98,000 "study" with Okland - with the last phase recommendations coming back for council approval at a later date.

(Expanded view looking north from City Hall Parking lot to include back of City Council Building)

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INSERT FROM AN EARLIER POST:
This was the Sales-Pitch for GMP #3 (date: 13 March 2020)

A clear example of this is the first item brought up by City Manager Chris Brady Item 7-a (see below), followed by another item, Item 6-a
< Item 6-a is the subject of a FrontPage feature story in this Sunday Edition of the East Valley Tribune 
"High-end NE Mesa plan wows zoning panel" is only one piece of the story that city officials wanted to get told.
< The TOP HEADLINE - coincidence or not - is Item 4-h on Monday's agenda - it's for the third request for an increase of millions more that need to get  approved for the Contract Manager At-Risk that had to get hired as a third-party buffer.

File #:

20-0295

Type:

Contract

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council

On agenda:

3/16/2020

Title:

Mesa City Center - Third Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP No. 3) - ASU @ Mesa City Center (District 4) GMP No. 1 was approved by Council on November 4, 2019 and included infrastructure improvements to the City’s utilities, communications facilities, and streets needed to support the ASU building, the Plaza, the Studios and any future developments and improvements in the area. GMP No. 2 was approved by Council on December 9, 2019 and included general site demolition, excavation of the building site, building pad preparation, foundations, the concrete building structure, and associated items. This GMP is the third of the series of GMP’s relating to City Center work. The scope of work includes all remaining construction necessary to complete the ASU @ Mesa City Center building. Staff recommends awarding the contract for GMP No. 3 to the selected Construction Manager at Risk, DPR Construction, in the amount of $46,548,058, and authorizing a change order allowance in the amount of $2,327,...

Attachments:

1. Council Report, 2. Project Location Map

04 July 2020 More Money CMAR Contracts for ASU Money-Pit ??

Please Note additional information:

Staff has prepared a contract and negotiated the fee for the PreConstruction Services contract.

During the Pre-Construction Phase, the CMAR will work closely with the project team to

> develop the project design,

> review the design for constructability,

> prepare cost estimates, and

> develop the project schedule and phasing plan.   

The last item developed during the Pre-Construction Phase will be the “Guaranteed Maximum Price” (GMP) for the project.

This GMP will then be brought back to the Council for review and approval.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than six months after the "Ground-Breaking" + million$$ more than the initial $63.5M approved by the Mesa City Council, there's not much progress to be seen above-ground in this image taken on-site last week for "The ASU Creative Futures Lab" or "The Studios @ Mesa City Center in a parking lot on Pepper Place and Centennial Drive.
< Take a look
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Item 5-g

File #:

20-0730

Type:

Contract

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council

On agenda:

7/8/2020

Title:

The Studios @ Mesa City Center - Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) Selection and Pre-Construction Services Contract (District 4)  In February 2018, Council approved an Intergovernmental Agreement with Arizona State University for a new academic building in downtown Mesa (ASU Creative Futures Laboratory).  This agreement also included provisions for ASU to assist with the programming of the vacant City-owned building located at 59 East 1st Street, which requires the renovation of 6,000 - 12,000 square-foot of the existing 26,500 sf building, to be called The Studios @ Mesa City Center.  This pre-construction phase of the renovation project consists of working closely with the project team to develop the project design, review the design for constructability, prepare cost estimates, and develop the project schedule and phasing plan.  Staff recommends the selection of Okland Construction as the CMAR for this project and award a Pre-Construction Services contract in the amount of $98,322. This project is funded by the Economic Investment Fund

Attachments:

1. Council Report, 2. Project Location Map

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Interestingly enough, these two pieces of "A 360-Degree Dilemma" - and its constantly increasing added costs - and all the current closely-connected interlocking puzzles of speculative real estate gambles in downtown, just happened to open an article that appeared Monday in the East Valley Tribune
Slowly but surely, Mesa getting a new downtown

Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer

East Valley Tribune | 2020-07-13T01:00:00-07:00

"After decades of big plans followed by bigger disappointments, the foundations of new downtown Mesa are emerging as city leaders and developers look past the COVID-19 pandemic towards a brighter day.

Piece by piece, a new downtown is starting to come into focus, with the ASU@mesacitycenter as the epicenter and a constellation of large and small developments swirling around it. . .

Despite the continuing controversy revolving around asu@mesacity center, even during the upcoming election, “I think the wisdom of that project will be evident to everyone’’ once the new campus opens, Giles said.

“It’s not a hole, it’s a ladder out of a hole,’’ he said.

But Councilman Jeremy Whittaker continues to criticize city subsidies for ASU through a favorable lease and Giles’ efforts to repackage the campus into a smaller project with a different funding source than the plan previously rejected by voters.

With the COVID-19 pandemic overshadowing the city’s economic forecasts, Whittaker contends, “I think it’s foolish to continue spending money on this downtown ASU campus.”

But the council approved funding for The Studios@mesacitycenter project, to convert a vacant former Information Technology building into meeting space and conference rooms.

< PAUSE >

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More of the Transform Downtown Puzzle +
The 360-Degree Dilemma
Site 17
“Site 17 is absolutely a big factor’’ in the newly revamped downtown’s future, Giles said. “The easy thing for us to do was to sell off that piece. We want to have some influence over how it’s going to develop.’’
The next step is negotiating a memorandum of understanding with Mira Vista Holdings and Sunbelt Investments, allowing the developer to market Site 17, McVay said.  The agreement may come before the council as early as August.
Brown & Brown Chevrolet