City Awards $8M Contract to Build Amphitheater

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The city today awarded a contract worth just over $8 million for construction of the downtown amphitheater and riverfront park.

Brock & Associates Builders Inc., North Lima, was the contractor chosen from among seven bidders for the project. The bid included the $7,018,000 base bid for the general contract and alternate bid packages totaling $988,721.

Bids were opened March 2. The city’s Board of Control approved hiring Brock at its meeting this morning.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Mayor Jamael Tito Brown,  adding that he’s excited to see the project reach this point.

In addition to serving as general contractor, Brock’s winning bid covers installation of a standing seam roof at the amphitheater stage, a PVC-coated chain link fence, decorative lighting under the Market Street bridge, irrigation system, three-phase electrical service, a lighting system for the annex parking lot, providing additional topsoil and creating a paved parking lot south of the Covelli Centre’s lot.

Bids were not awarded for a packages to provide site furnishings.

Work is to get under way in June for an anticipated opening in summer or fall 2019, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.

“We’re excited to get it going. We’ll be even more excited when we get it open,” Shasho said. “It’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to require a lot of coordination and teamwork.”

Brock is expected to begin work at the site in June, Shasho said.

The relocation of the 84-inch sewer line that cuts across the project site is on schedule, with work scheduled for completion in September. Brock still has to submit materials including drawings to the city, and a preconstruction meeting next month will define the construction schedule, he reported.

Landscape architect firm MKSK, Columbus, is the main architect on the project and Youngstown’s MS Consultants is working as a consultant to provide architectural and engineering services.

The amphitheater will be called the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater in honor of the foundation that provided $3 million toward the project in exchange for naming rights for 20 years.

The city is in discussions with the Raymond John Wean Foundation about other naming opportunities, potentially for the riverfront park, Brown said.

Pictured: A rendering of the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater.

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