Tenders for the theatre component of the CU Plex are now in and are being evaluated, Mayor Ian Hamilton said Thursday, June10.
A total of nine bids for the theatre component have come in and while details of the bids have not yet been made public, Hamilton said the nine tenders came from across Canada and are competitively priced.
"The interest is phenomenal," said Hamilton, who said one of the contractor bids came as far away as Prince Edward Island.
City administration is taking its time wading through the tender bids.
City council was scheduled to vote on the recommendation of a winning tender at Monday's council meeting.
But Parks and Recreation Director Stuart York told council that vote would have to wait.
Administration and the architects wanted time to review the bids in more detail before making a recommendation, because "things were so close," he said.
York confirmed that it was an extremely competitive bidding process. The top eight bids were all "within 10 per cent of one another," he said.
Administration and the architects wanted to make sure "everything was equal and that apples were apples and oranges were oranges," York said.
He added that he hopes to have it back to council "in short order."
The City will also be receiving the final documents to go to tender for the aquatic centre and Hamilton said the City has been advised that the architects are "99 per cent complete." He said he expects to go to tender on those within the next couple of weeks.
Hamilton said the results of the tenders for both the theatre and the aquatic centre "will tell us a lot about the next steps,", referring to decisions on whether to build all four components at once or whether the field house component will have to be phased in.
The latest estimates put the price tag of the entire facility at upwards of $50 million, but the actual cost could be higher or lower depending on the tender bids awarded.
Overall, Hamilton was delighted with the successful launch of the fundraising campaign last week, with the fundraising chairs Heath Gabruch and Rob Rongve announcing that they have raised $6.1 million towards their $10 million goal. That means overall funds committed to the project are now well past the $30 million mark, the latest cost estimate for the combined theater-aquatic centre components of the facility.
The project had received a further financial boost earlier in the week when Battleford town council officially committed $1.6 million towards "regional recreation projects" in North Battleford. Councillor Donna Lavin was at the fundraising launch to officially announce Battleford's commitment.
Mayor Hamilton said he was "ecstatic" about the fundraising launch and about the contributions made so far.
"It just shows what a community can do together. So many people have come together to make this a reality," said Hamilton, who added the work is not done yet.
"There's a lot more enthusiasm and a lot more resources to tap into to take us over the top.
