FOLLOWUP: Eight bidders for Hiawatha Community Center work

(WSB file photo)

Last month, we reported the long-planned stabilization project for Hiawatha Community Center was finally out to bid. Now the bidding process is closed and a list of eight bidders is now viewable online. The lowest “base bid” is $2,518,284 from Optimus Construction and Development of Burien; the highest, $2,989,000 from WS Contractors of Buckley. The project webpage lists the project’s total budget as $3.9 million. The center has been closed now for almost four years, and Parks officials admitted last month that it was a mistake not to reopen it while waiting for the stabilization project. If the rest of the contractor-selection process goes well, they also said last month, they hope work will start in March. It could last more than a year.

sniffy1788 January 12, 2024 (9:43 pm)

i’m curious to why the play field and track was able to get done so quickly? is it because the high school had money in it as well? four years is a long time for hiawatha to be closed and all of its resources, especially with Alki being under staffed and now closed.

WS Res January 13, 2024 (12:02 am)

In this house, we read links.

Star555 January 12, 2024 (10:37 pm)

Just get it done!!!!

Forest January 13, 2024 (9:27 am)

Funding of Hiawatha stabilization was approved by voters in a Parks levy about five years ago. For the Parks Department to have not even started stabilization work after a 4-year (and counting) closure of the building does not count as a mistake — it’s more an ongoing demonstration of incompetence.

Jay January 13, 2024 (1:09 pm)

Five years of construction cost escalations is absolutely brutal. Private institutions have been prioritizing building projects to get construction started as fast as possible to avoid escalations. A five year delay from project and budget approval is absolutely wild. They need to outsource their project management, hire an owners rep or go with a design-build firm for projects.

Brian January 13, 2024 (10:57 am)

The hold-up with the grant funding is so frustrating. There’s absolutely nothing a private citizen can do when the reason for the delay is “federal bureaucratic bs and red tape”. The fact that the delay even happened is emblematic of the institutional rot that has happened to every functioning mechanism of our government from the top federal level down to the working city level.

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