Civic Center delayed due to bids

In delays reminiscent of the long-awaited Commons Shopping center, the Calabasas Civic Center project has been put off again again, this time because the one and only construction bid that the city received came in too high.

The Calabasas City Council rejected the bid and asked the civic center architect to make the project smaller.

The center will be built on a 7.7acre site on Park Sorrento behind The Commons shopping center.

The interruption in bidding comes following other delays in planning, design and financing.

A Southern California construction boom is making it difficult to find available contractors, said Calabasas City Manager Tony Coroalles.

"Only one of our pre-qualified bidders had sufficient capacity to be able to bid on the project," Coroalles said.

Calabasas approved seven companies to submit bids. Three of the companies asked to see building plans for the purposes of bidding. Of the three companies that pulled the plans, only one group submitted a bid.

Sinanian Development, Inc. of Tarzana said it could build the project for $46 million, but the city's budget is $33 million to $35 million, Coroalles said.

"The short story is that there's too much work to do in the area," Coroalles said. "When you've got the Los Angeles Unified School District with a multibillion-dollar construction program, and you've got the same thing happening with the police department in the city of L.A., and just general construction . . . There are only so many electricians, carpenters, plumbers, cement guys to go around."

Had the civic center bid come in at the city's asking price, the project could've broken ground this month, officials said. Now, the city must change the building plans, pre-qualify more bidders and put the project out to bid again.

One change the city is likely to make is elimination of the civic center underground parking lot. The parking is expected to remain above ground.

"This won't be a major redesign effort," Coroalles said. "Our intention is to keep everything looking the same above ground. We're not going to redesign the look of the building. This will be a quick redesign. We're hoping about three months."

The civic center will comprise a two-story, 27,700-square-foot city hall, a 25,700-square-foot public library, a 3,000-square-foot assembly hall, an outdoor amphitheater, and a public plaza that will feature fountains and monuments.