Dawning Of A New Marathon City Hall

 

By Mark Howell

 

‘I think I know this project better than anyone,” said Carlos Solis, Marathon’s public works manager.

 

 

Formerly a civil engineer in Tampa, Solis has been on the job in Marathon for five and a half years, which includes his involvement in a bidding process for the construction of the new city hall in Marathon that began at the end of last year.

 

 

The contract was ultimately awarded to Pedro Falcon Electrical Contractors of Big Pine Key, which won with a bid of $4,290,000, from among competing bids by MVP Contractors, Burke Construction, Botsford-Overholt, Emerald and others with bids ranging up to $5.018 million.

 

 

 

Tin the bidding process there was also time spent in checking the competing companies’ financial resources, their experience, their record of timeliness and whether or not they were involved in any litigation.

 

 

It was the Pedro Falcon company that recently completed the Monroe County fire station on Conch Key. “It has considerable experience in government construction,” said Solis, “working on federal buildings and also for the Department of Defense at McGill and at NAS here in the Keys.”

 

 

That was the second round of construction bids for Marathon’s city hall after the first bids were scrapped when they came in at $1 million over what city officials had forecast. Since then, the plans were redrawn for a more modest, ground level facility.

 

 

The new city hall premises are to be located on the existing city hall site at 9805 Overseas Highway between 98th and 99th streets, which currently also hold a couple of rented modular buildings. These will be removed and replaced by parking and landscaping.

 

 

The first dirt moving took place in December and the target date for completion of the new city hall is now January 2016.

 

 

It will be a 15,000-square-foot, single-story building consisting of a large chamber and a multitude of offices that include space for the finance the department and the city attorney, which are currently outsourced. The total number of occupants at the new building will amount to 30.

 

 

Special care, said Solis, has to be taken to provide for matters common to administrative and governmental premises today, such as privacy and protection issues. And the entire building will rest two feet above flood elevation.

 

 

Currently the subcontractors are working “cheek to cheek” with the primary construction teams. And, adds Solis, “city hall staff can’t wait to move out and move in.”

 

 

 

That process will involve a moving company and take about two days.

 

 

Already in place, of course, are the present features that now abut city hall, including Ocean Front Park with its walks and gazebos. “All that is beautiful and will stay.

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