Bondfield Construction wins arena job

Sault Ste. Marie City Council agreed tonight to award the construction tender on the new arena to Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd. of Concord, Ontario, for $21,965,000.

With added costs involved in demolishing the old Memorial Gardens, possible paving of parking lots and other expenses, the total cost of the project is expected to come to $22.7 million, Mayor John Rowswell said.

Neither of those figures includes GST.

As SooToday.com reported earlier today, Bondfield had the low tender among four bidders.

Chief Administrative Officer Joe Fratesi also announced today that Soo Greyhounds have signed a letter of intent committing to the new building for at least 15 years.

The agreement with the Greyhounds actually covers 20 years but the hockey club has clauses allowing it an out if financial targets are not met during the final five years.

It's expected to take 60 weeks to build the structure.

No start date has been set for construction.

The work is to be done by July 13, 2006.

Structural steel will come from Algoma Steel, and pipe to be used in the roof will be manufactured locally by Tenaris.

Here are the four bids:

Bondfield Construction $21,940,000

Tom Jones Corp. $21,995,000

Ball Construction and George Stone & Sons Ltd. $22,223,019 (joint venture)

PCL Construction Canada Ltd. $22,530,647

Ward 1 Councillor James Caicco, who heads the committee that's building the new sports and entertainment centre, says the intent is to preserve the tower from the old Memorial Gardens. "If it's structurally possible to save it, we're going to seek the funds to do that," Caicco said.