Updated completion dates predicted for Sterling’s riverfront redevelopment

STERLING – Sterling’s Riverfront Commission met Wednesday, June 4, to discuss updates for Sterling’s $300 million multiphase Riverfront Reimagined project.

The riverfront park

The multiage, accessible park at the former Northwestern Steel and Wire Mill site represents phase one of the Riverfront Reimagined project. In addition to the park, later phases could include worker apartments, a hotel and events center, and a rooftop bar/restaurant for the four buildings at the Lawrence site. That could be followed by market-rate apartments, a fitness center and yet-to-be-determined uses of the National site.

Phase one includes the construction of a restroom facility, installation of playground equipment and a splash pad, new sewer and water laterals, concrete and brick paver pathways, upgraded lighting, electrical and technology improvements, landscaping, and overall site grading.

Although the city’s yet-to-be-named riverfront park and splash pad were originally projected to be finished toward the end of June, Strand Associates project manager Zach Simpson said the last progress meeting with contractors indicated the project was slightly behind schedule.

The delay was mostly due to masonry work, which took longer than expected and required most of the site space.

Despite those delays, Simpson said, contractors are continuing to make progress, the park’s shelter is starting to take shape, and most of the underground work is finished. Work on the park’s splash pad also is advancing.

“They have two pours to finish up the pad this week, and they have to install the equipment,” Simpson said. “I believe the mason work is done now as well. So now that he’s going to be departing, they’ll be able to focus on the playground and some of the other site work that’s north and east of the building, and that’ll start to take shape in the next couple of weeks.”

The hope is that the site improvements to the park will be finished by early July, followed by the shelter in late August or early September.

“If they can get in there in the next week or two, I don’t think that’s a huge lift for them to install,” Simpson said. “The equipment’s here in storage. It’s just a matter of getting some of the concrete ribbon curbs in and the base down for that stuff, and it should go pretty quick.”

Phases two and three have been consolidated to include the completion of the amphitheater, an ice skating ribbon and parking lots at an expected cost of $4 million.

Barring any unexpected delays, Simpson expects the $655,000 ice ribbon likely will be constructed first this fall. The parking lot will follow in the spring, with the amphitheater construction planned for late spring or possibly into the summer or fall.

The Sterling Riverfront Foundation has been seeking investors to help fund the riverfront project. Sterling Alderman Josh Johnson said the Riverfront Foundation has received about $2.8 million in pledged donations, with $1.1 million in donations in the bank. This leaves a $3 million funding gap for phase two.

To address the issue, the city and the Riverfront Commission are considering separating the ice ribbon from phase two so that the money they already have could be used for its construction this year to avoid delays. If they choose to pursue this option, it will require the Sterling City Council’s approval.

Lawrence building improvements

Improvements to the Lawrence Bros. building – such as new lighting and window banners – have been on hold while the city awaits bids for the environmental abatement work at the former Lawrence and National companies’ sites. The work includes mitigating soil contamination; diminishing asbestos; and removing lead-based paint, contaminated concrete and hazardous materials in preparation for redevelopment.

Ron Clewer of developer Gorman & Co. said those bids came back “significantly” higher than expected.

“Two reasons for that,” Clewer said. “One was the timing of the bids, and right now, there’s a great deal of work being done because a lot of schools get done over the summer. So, some bidders didn’t bid, and the two that did may have considered their capacity.”

Clewer said the city, Gorman and the city’s qualified environmental consultant, Fehr Graham Engineering & Environmental, advised reissuing those bids after school resumes in August, when companies have fewer projects to choose from and are likely to submit lower bids.

“If we use the bids we have, then the money we saved on other work, including the roof on the National, would have to be put toward the environmental work, which basically would have ate up the budget for lighting and banners anyway,” Clewer said. “The goal is to get more respondents, lower the bid prices and not have to absorb the overage in the budget.”

Fehr Graham’s Ross Grimes suggested that the environmental work would have better pricing, timing and more vendors bidding if the work was reconfigured into smaller, individual projects.