The Redwood City Council on Monday unanimously approved a construction contract for the Magical Bridge Playground at Red Morton Park to Robert A. Bothman Construction of Santa Clara.
Bothman’s bid to build the playground, at $5.6 million, was one of three that the city received.
The Magical Bridge Playground will replace the aging playground at Red Morton Park and will be the city’s largest play space, with a variety of slides, swings, spin and sway equipment for people of all ages and abilities.
The City has appropriated Park Impact Fees of $2 million, and $554,000 in Capital Improvement Funds to support the project. The Magical Bridge Foundation has now raised $3 million for the project after an additional gift of $1 million from the Jay Paul Company – which enabled to project to reach the required funding level to begin the bid process.
The gift follows an earlier $200,000 commitment from the company, along with substantial gifts from other private donors, including Sequoia Healthcare District, the Burns Family Foundation, the San Jose Sharks Foundation + SAP, Leland Levy and Judy Huey, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Kaiser Permanente, among others.
Due to the complexity of the project, it is being completed in phases. During Phase 1, completed this past May, the play area and parking capacity were expanded. The project is currently in Phase 2, which includes construction of the playground, picnic area and a safe, accessible drop-off area between the Armory building and the main playground entrance. Construction is estimated to begin within 60 days of awarding the contract, according to City officials.
Phase 3 will include improvements to the sports field spectator areas, including new bleachers and shaded areas.
The City Council also authorized the City Manager to increase the contract amount, if necessary, up to 10 percent of the amount awarded, through the addition of park impact fees, not to exceed $6.1 million.
The Magical Bridge Foundation is a non-profit based in Palo Alto that designs playgrounds for children and adults of varying physical and cognitive abilities. Their designs aim to fix the often overlooked discriminatory aspects of a typical playground, such as common raised platform structures that separate families from their children.
The first Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto opened to the public in April 2015, and Magical Bridge playground projects are currently underway in northern California communities of Redwood City, Morgan Hill, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and the Palo Alto Unified School District.
