Greensboro announced Tuesday, June 20, that after rebidding the site work for the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, it was awarding the contract for Phase 1 to D.H. Griffin Co. at a cost of $1.2 million.
It turns out Coliseum Director Matt Brown, who is in charge of the project, was right. That cost is about $1 million less than the price that Skanska Rentenbach had bid. Brown came under some sharp criticism when, after the groundbreaking for the Tanger on April 26, he cancelled the Phase 1 contract with Skanska and said he planned to rebid the project. Phase 1 involves some demolition, grading and other site work that has to be completed before construction on the site can begin.
Brown at the time said that Skanska’s price was too high. The City Council had approved up to $2.5 million for the Phase 1 contract before the price was negotiated.
Brown said at the time that he thought it would be worth delaying the project in order to rebid the contract for the grading and other work necessary to get the area ready to build, and he was right.
Brown had negotiated the Phase 1 contract with Skanska down to $2.2 million, which turned out was $1 million too high. Skanska still has the contract to construct the Tanger, but one would think that Brown – proving that he knows a bad deal when he sees one and is willing to walk away – would improve future negotiations.
When the $1 million savings on the new contract was announced, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said, “I’m very pleased that the work for Phase 1 can begin. The success of the rebid shows that city staff had the correct read on the situation. The resolution that the City Council passed gave them the flexibility and leverage that they needed to move ahead.”
