Morgan Hill
– A new South County Courthouse will cost more than planned.
A bid to build the courthouse in Morgan Hill
– 20 percent above estimates – was accepted by the Santa Clara
County Board of Supervisors.
Morgan Hill – A new South County Courthouse will cost more than planned.
A bid to build the courthouse in Morgan Hill – 20 percent above estimates – was accepted by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
West Bay Builders was the low bidder at $30,355,000, which is $6 million over budget. Other bids ranged from $30,497,000 to $31,390,000. The figures are for construction costs only, said Alicia Flynn, the county’s project manager for the courthouse.
The county’s overall estimate was just shy of $40 million, leaving almost $16 million for soft costs – furniture and equipment – plus 5 to 10 percent contingency. With West Bay’s construction bids plus the $16 million in soft costs, the overall price will rise to $48 million.
This does not include the $7 million the City of Morgan Hill spent buying property at Butterfield Boulevard and Diana Avenue, a tradeoff agreement that allowed the city to continue its Redevelopment Agency without costly county objection.
Supervisor Don Gage, who represents the South Valley area, said the board had little choice but to approve the bid.
“We’re already in for about $10 million to $12 million,” Gage said Wednesday. “We can’t pull out now.”
The money was spent on planning, design and other pre-construction features.
The board could have gone back for more bids but decided not to, partly because of rising material costs throughout the industry.
“It’s because of steel prices,” Gage said. “We have several other projects 25 percent over budget, too.”
Where to find the extra money is the next challenge, Gage said. The courthouse, to be called the South County Justice Center, will be paid for from bonds sold in December 2003.
“We will have to bond for additional money to finish the project,” Gage said Thursday, “unless we decide to take it from someplace else.”
Gage said, because it is difficult-to-impossible to find $6 or $7 million anyplace in the already desperately tight county budget, they will likely sell more bonds.
Flynn said the next step is for West Bay to produce some paperwork.
“Then we can proceed to construction,” Flynn said. “We’ll probably have the groundbreaking in early December and be ready for occupancy in July 2006, a 21-month construction schedule.”
Gage said, while the Morgan Hill City Council and some nearby residents initially opposed the project, he considers it a positive thing, especially for downtown businesses. The site is directly across from the at-grade railroad track crossing that leads to East Third Street and downtown.
As an extra added attraction, Gage said he didn’t see why the courthouse parking lot couldn’t be open to the public on weekends, particularly during public events, as long as there is no problem with vandalism.
The 80,000 square-foot, 2-building courthouse will be built between the railroad tracks and Butterfield, the Caltrain park-and-ride lot and Diana Avenue. Six courtrooms, a holding facility for prisoners, jury rooms and related offices will occupy a 35-foot high building. A smaller one-story building on the north would house district attorney, probation and public defender offices.
The county has abandoned the San Martin courthouse complex at Monterey Road and Highland Avenue because it has outgrown the site and the existing building is so riddled with mold inside and out that it had to be closed. Court is currently held in trailers on the site.
Construction could begin in late December or early January and be finished by spring 2006.
