The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission (RDC) extended its contract with the project manager for the hospital redevelopment site Monday.
The contract with JS Held now lasts through December 2022 and includes an additional “owner representative” through September. Economic and sustainable development director Alex Crowley said the new role is designed to find developers for the Hopewell neighborhood.
The representative would "determine whether those developers are actually proposing projects that are aligned with the master plan and get them over the finish line."
The extension is worth $250,000, which increases the total value of the contract to $367,342 since it was first approved in December 2020.
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JS Held vice president Deb Kunce said the jump in price is due to almost $50,000 for the owner representative, as well as an increased workload.
“Most of that was in IU Health’s court last year," she said. "Things are starting to heat up in terms of activity, so you will see an increase in hours commensurate to that.”
The extension also includes $176,640 for project management.
Trades District Tech Center
The RDC approved an agreement with Axis Architecture for phase II design work on the new Trades District tech center for $403,082.
Crowley said Axis predicted its original estimate of about $2.1 million for the new tech center was too low, and the RDC should prepare for a gap in funding.
“As this gets developed and designed, then there will be an opportunity to go back and adjust the cost estimates to be more in what real-time pricing is like,” redevelopment commissioner David Walter said. “Right now, it’s speculation.”
READ MORE: Bloomington Plan Commission approves two major site plans, questions PUD amendment
Additionally, Walter announced his plans to resign from the RDC after more than 30 years to focus on his health. He said his resignation will not be effective for a few weeks.
