Status Update: FDOT Manatee Operations Center
A few weeks from now, the Florida Department of Transportation will celebrate moving into its new District 1 operations center in Manatee County.
The agency will soon hold a ribbon cutting for the $19.3 million complex that replaces an aging Sarasota County FDOT facility just south of University Boulevard at 1840 61st Street. According to FDOT, many of the 34 buildings at that maintenance campus are more than 60 years old.
The agency started planning an all-new facility in Manatee County several years ago after it concluded that property and access constraints meant the old operations center could not be renovated. An initial application to change the zoning of the East Manatee property for the future facility was approved in 2008.
The center’s staff of 78 is moving to the Manatee location, 13900 State Road 64 E. About 5 miles east of Interstate 75, the facility and its personnel maintain highways and bridges in District 1. They also take part in FDOT construction projects in the district.
The approximately 42-acre complex includes a main office building, an auto and truck shop, a warehouse, storage areas, a field crew operations building, covered highway equipment storage, a car and truck wash, a recycling facility and a radio tower.
The general contractor for the job is Jacksonville-based The Haskell Co. At least one Manatee County contractor, metal structure erector Trident Building Systems, picked up a piece of the work, building the roof structure for one of the complex’s buildings.
District 1 includes Charlotte, Collier, De Soto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Manatee, Okeechobee, Polk and Sarasota counties. According to the agency, its scope of maintenance and construction in the district covers 6,293 road lane miles and 933 bridges.
Status Update, a weekly feature, is a regular look at the progress of construction projects throughout Manatee County.
FDOT Manatee Operations Center
Location: 13900 State Road 64 E.
Project type: Transportation maintenance and construction facility
Owner: Florida Department of Transportation
Builder: The Haskell Co., Jacksonville
Project value: $19.3 million
Project start date: November 2014
Projected completion date: Spring 2016
Square footage: 52,600
Property acreage: 41.25
Structures: Ten total, including office building, auto and truck shop, warehouse, storage, field crew operations, inmate storage and bathroom, radio tower, covered highway equipment storage.
This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:58 PM with the headline "Status Update: FDOT Manatee Operations Center ."