THUNDER BAY — City council is on the verge of hiring the prime consultant for the new multi-use indoor sports facility it wants to build at Chapples Park.
A public Request for Proposals issued in August resulted in bids from seven companies.
After reviewing the bids and conducting interviews, a team of city officials is recommending council give the job to Stantec Architecture Ltd.
The consulting contract is worth $1.5 million, including a contingency of $150,000.
In its RFP, the city indicated it wanted the final building and site design for a two-storey, pre-engineered metal structure to be completed by January 2020.
It's to include:
- indoor synthetic turf field 310 feet by 190 feet with a minimum 40 feet clear height
- dressing rooms and referee change area
- indoor walking track
- concession
- public lobby/entrance/washrooms
- mezzanine viewing area
- storage space
- automatic quarter pitch field separation curtains
Construction tenders could be called next spring, with completion of the building by late 2021 or 2022.
Although the city has money on hand to hire the consultant, funding to pay the entire $30 million cost of the facility is not yet in place.
The city hopes to receive most of it from the federal and Ontario governments through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Fund.
City Manager Norm Gale told Tbnewswatch that "Government funding is not certain, but administration and members of council alike are cognizant of that."
Council voted earlier this week to submit the application for infrastructure money.
It will consider the proposal to hire Stantec at its meeting on Monday.
