Construction has started on new Bradenton parking garage but how much will it cost? No one knows

It's been six months since the city unveiled a preliminary rendering of what officials said would be an "iconic" piece of architecture in downtown Bradenton.

Will it still be "iconic"? That remains anyone's guess for now.

More than $2 million has already been spent demolishing the Bradenton City Hall parking lot and former Manatee Chamber of Commerce building in preparation to build the new City Centre parking garage.

But the city council and other officials still don't know how much the taxpayer-funded garage will cost.

Architectural plans were recently submitted to the city for approval, but it was a cart-before-the-horse moment that caught officials off guard. Those plans, had they been approved, would have been without input from the city. Planning and Community Development Director Catherine Hartley refused to sign.

What should have come first was the construction documents with a guaranteed maximum price, or GMP, and those would have gone to the city council for its approval. Council members, who voted to approve the contracts in December, are increasingly becoming frustrated with the lack of information after already committing to the project.

"If they did that, they shouldn't have," said Economic Development Director Carl Callahan. "They need to have the GMP and should have submitted the foundation permits and that's it. I will get with them to get the answer and as of right now, I'm not real happy."

The development team consists of Fawley Bryant Architecture, ZNS Engineering and NDC Construction.

Callahan said the construction documents are being priced at this time. That has come to first, he said, but officials are still unsure of what they have approved, even while heavy equipment rumbles across the former parking lot, signaling the garage is going to happen.

"I have concerns we are giving up some of the things I felt was important to have in the building," said Ward 4 Councilman Bemis Smith. "It was supposed to be an iconic building, and to pare it back to have just another garage is not what we were looking for. We knew it was going to take some money to get what we wanted because it's going to be the centerpiece of our downtown for a long time."

Smith said it's important the project be "memorable and exciting," in order to justify doing it in the first place.

Officials have met individually with the architect and have each offered what they believe is important to the design. However, since that January unveiling of the tentative rendering, officials have not been able to vote on a final design due to the lack of construction documents to determine what the final cost will be, estimated to be between $12 million to $15 million.

The submitted architectural plans included a request to change Third Avenue West's current commercial zoning. That didn't sit well with council members who initially wanted the garage to have retail stores wrapped around from Old Main Street down Third Avenue. Officials eventually compromised and agreed to at least ensure the Third Avenue side was constructed in a way to easily retrofit should the need for retail arise in the future.

Officials are demanding answers and want to ensure such a request won't preclude retail on Third in the future. Ward 1 Councilman Gene Gallo insisted the design team update the council as soon as possible.

"I want them to come back here and present a program from the way this started and to see what changes have been made based on what the council members provided as input individually," Gallo said. "We need to see that and have a discussion then make a decision as a board."

Callahan said nothing has been taken off the table at this point.

"We will do exactly that," he said. "All I want to know is what it costs and maybe everything is still in when we get the numbers back."

The city was hoping the garage would be complete by the end of the year when construction on the new Spring Hill Suites wraps up but it is unclear that will happen. As part of that development agreement, the city intends to dedicate 100 spaces on the garage's ground flood for the hotel.

Whether the garage is completed on that original timetable is no longer a priority.

"This garage will not be driven by the hotel," Callahan said. "It will be driven by us. It will go on its own timeframe to make sure it's right and it ties into all of the other things going on downtown. But they will be coming back in and this will become a public process again."

This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Construction has started on new Bradenton parking garage but how much will it cost? No one knows."