by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — During a special meeting last Monday evening, the Trinidad city council awarded Purgatoire Valley Construction Inc., the contract to rehabilitate the water and sewer lines for the La Puerta de Colorado – Americana Roadway and Baca Ditch project. The project will replace the sewer and water lines that run under the BNSF railroad between the Purgatoire River and I-25.
The infrastructure replacement will allow for the development of the 110 room Hilton Hotel that will be the center piece of the La Puerta development at the north end of Commercial Street.
The bid was let for $2,579,957.35, with five bids received. Purgatoire Valley Construction was the lowest bid.
The other companies that submitted bids were Western Civil bidding $2,778,714.86, Pate Construction bid $3,018,042.61, RMS Utilitiescame in at $3,299,263.13 and KR Swerdfeger bid$3,360,420.
Several entities are putting up the funding for the project with the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) Energy Impact Assistance Fund Grant of $1,000,000 being the largest. The owners are contributing $900,000 and the City of Trinidad has a $600,000 match they’ve made to secure the grant. This totals $2.5 million. Anything over the $2.5 million price tag will be borne by the owner according to the Development Agreement.
The sources of the funding are DOLA, the City of Trinidad, and the owners Kip Hampden LLLP and LaPuerta LLC.
The project will provide a new road off Commercial Street to access the new Hilton Garden Inn currently being constructed. The time frame for the water project is 180 days or completion by May 6, 2022.
The cost of material is expected to cause fluctuations in project costs that will need to be negotiated. The project manager is the Trinidad Construction Group who has put $900,000 into an escrow account. Extension to 2022 on the DOLA grant. City council noted that they will take a close look at any change orders that might arise because of an escalation in material costs.
The bid was approved by a 7-0 vote of the council.
