The Magical Bridge Playground’s opening at Red Morton Park has been delayed by a few months — pushed to summer 2019 — following a “small setback” in identifying a contractor for the project, according to city officials.
Despite the minor setback, the project also received some very good news: Jay Paul, owner of Jay Paul Company, increased his financial commitment to the Magical Bridge Foundation by $1 million, in addition to the company’s existing sponsorship of the Swing ‘n’ Sway zone.
Phase I of the project was recently completed, which included undergrounding overhead utilities, moving the PG&E transformer and adding new parking spaces next to the site (at the National Guard Armory). The city is now moving forward with Phase II: construction of the innovative, all-inclusive playground.
However, on July 23, the city rejected the lone bid by local contractor Level 10 Construction to build the playground. Despite Level 10 offering to waive all construction management fees and profit to build the specialized playground, the bid exceeded the original engineer’s estimates from early this year.
The “hot construction market with its rising material and labor costs brought many of the sub-contractor’s bids in higher than anticipated and forced the decision to re-bid the playground,” according to a statement by the Magical Bridge Foundation, which is developing the playground in partnership with the city.
“In order for the City to re-issue the bid in hopes of securing better pricing and more bidders – something everyone is confident will occur – it was necessary to reject the current bid,” the statement added.
A contractor is expected to be announced in September, and the foundation and city are securing material discounts and other contributions from potential bidders to reduce construction costs, according to an update from City staff.
For more about the Magical Bridge Playground in Redwood City, go here.
