Project design will take 17 months
By Teresa Sargeant
Reporter
The Apopka City Council awarded H.J. High Construction a negotiated contract as Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for the city’s new public safety facility during the council’s meeting on Wednesday, April 2.
The new facility will have several city departments, including fire, police, an emergency communications center and the information technology department.
The contract is worth $338,382, plus a 10% contingency of $33,838 for a total of $372,220, according to Finance Director Blanche Sherman. The facility design project timeline is 17 months.
H.J. High Construction will collaborate with Architects Design Group on the facility’s design. In September 2024, Architects Design Group was awarded a negotiated contract for the pubic safety facility’s design services. Once the design is finished, a construction phase contract will be given to the City Council.
In a construction project, a CMAR is brought on as a consultant who first oversees the design then, once the design is complete, transitions to role of general contractor for construction. The CMAR supervises different aspects of a project including budget such as the guaranteed maximum price.
The process for selecting a company and negotiating the CMAR contract began last year, which included an evaluation committee that was organized that looked at the top-qualifying firms from April 2024 to May 2024. In June 2024, the City Council approved city staff to begin negotiations and to give H.J. High Construction the CMAR contract.
Last month, the City Council authorized the purchase of a Seventh Street property through eminent domain, if necessary, to build the public safety facility. This property, the final one necessary to build the new facility, has a three-bedroom, two-bath house with a 2024 market and assessed value of $61,495, according to Orange County Property Appraiser records. The owner on record is McGee Family Trust.
Eminent domain refers to the power of the government—repeatedly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court—to take someone’s property for public use, as long as the government provides “just compensation.”
The current police department is in the Apopka Municipal Justice Building, which stands on about 1.7-gross acres of real property at 112 E. Sixth Street.
The city has attempted to work with the property owners and their attorney, but the owners were considering eminent domain because of the possible tax benefits, Police Chief Michael McKinley told the City Council at the March 5 meeting. The city tried reaching out to the property owners’ attorney but couldn’t make contact.
Besides attempted negotiations, the city also offered fair market value, which was rejected, and an appraisal showing that the property’s value was significantly higher than the owners’ last offer.
The Apopka Chief is an award-winning weekly newspaper serving the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923.
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