Brownsville council approves letter of intent with Barton Construction for community resource hub; $5 million cap set

The Brownsville City Council on Feb. 11 approved a letter of intent with Barton Construction to serve as construction manager at risk for a planned Brownsville Resource Hub, setting a not-to-exceed cap of $5,000,000 and authorizing the firm to begin preparing publicly bid packages.

The proposal, introduced during a presentation by designer Heather Ashbrand of A2H and explained in detail by Joe Barton of Barton Construction, describes a roughly 13,000-square-foot facility at the corner of Main Street and Boyd Avenue with a computer lab, multiuse training and meeting rooms, office suites for nonprofit partners and a reception/“pre-function” area. Ashbrand said the design team has worked to make the hub visible from Main Street and to create pedestrian connections to the nearby library.

“We’ve been working with Joe Barton to design the new Brownsville Resource Hub. We’re really excited, and it’s been a privilege to work on this project, serve the Brownsville community,” Heather Ashbrand said.

Council members heard that the hub would host workforce training and behavioral-health services and provide “hotel” offices for small nonprofits and local service providers. The presentation named prospective tenants and partners including Eagles Nest, West Tennessee Legal Services and a United Way financial-empowerment counselor, and described meeting rooms and event space that could generate revenue to offset operating costs.

Joe Barton described the procurement approach the council approved: a letter of intent followed by an AIA-style construction contract and the release of roughly two dozen separate bid packages for trades. Barton said the construction-manager-at-risk approach provides budget transparency because each trade is bid separately; it also allows for a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) to be set after competitive bids and, if needed, for value engineering to reduce costs. Barton told the council the $5,000,000 figure in the letter of intent is a “not to exceed” cap; he estimated, based on preliminary work, that the project budget would likely fall in the roughly $4.0–4.5 million range but said final cost will be determined after bids are received.

Barton said the project team expects 25–28 bid packages and described a typical construction manager fee structure of general conditions plus about 5 percent on projects of this size. He also noted schedule constraints tied to grant closeout requirements and asked the council to approve the letter of intent so the team could begin letting bids.

The council voted to approve the letter of intent. The motion and second are recorded in the meeting minutes; the transcript records the item was called and approved with no roll-call tally printed in the transcript.

Council members and staff also discussed the project’s funding stack. City staff said they are pursuing a Community Facilities grant from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) in the $1.9 million range, an asset-enhancement grant of roughly $1.0 million from the state, a broadband-connect grant and other commitments. The Industrial Development Board has separately pledged $1 million toward the project, documents show. City presenters said the asset-enhancement grant includes a local match of $52,631.58 if awarded.

Mayor William D. Robb and staff emphasized transparency: the selection documents and the manager-at-risk contracting approach will be public, and the council will review the GMP and all bid results before final contract execution.

The council’s action allows Barton Construction to proceed with bid preparation and required procurement steps under the grants’ rules. Staff said the letter of intent and subsequent contract are intended to satisfy grant procurement requirements so the city can receive the state and federal funds that have been pledged.

City officials said additional design refinements, vendor selection, and value-engineering conversations will continue publicly as bids are received and reviewed.