Costello Construction awarded Legislative Hall parking garage contract; mobilization, permits and partial lot closure planned

Studio Jade project lead Phil Contre told the Legislative Building Committee that Costello Construction (Columbia, Maryland) was awarded the contract for the Legislative Hall parking garage and that "their bid was approximately $23,000,000. That is within our budget." Contre said the contractor has significant prior parking-garage experience and is prepared to perform both general-contractor and site-contractor work because the project requires special foundations and relocation of water and sewer mains.

The presentation listed permitting and preconstruction steps. "For the City of Dover, the contractor has submitted for both the administrative and building permit," Contre said, and DelDOT and DNREC preconstruction meetings are being scheduled (DelDOT for a construction entrance permit and DNREC for dewatering). Contre said the team does not anticipate permit issues but will proceed through the standard agency review process.

Contre outlined an anticipated activity schedule: mobilization in March (beginning with dewatering and sewer relocation), partial impacts to the adjacent parking area through May, foundations beginning in June and precast panels erected beginning in July. He noted that the contractor expects to begin some utility work that will not require a full lot closure until May. Contre also described the garage layout: 93 restricted spaces plus four handicap spaces for staff and legislators and 247 unrestricted spaces, with separate entrances and a designated area for mechanical and future electrical equipment to support Legislative Hall.

Senator Townsend, participating online, asked whether the committee could shift the start a few months to preserve parking availability during the legislature's busiest months. Contre and other staff said permitting or other naturally occurring schedule changes could "organically" shift the start date and that the bid documents had been prepared to avoid disruption to July 4 events. Project staff said they would continue to coordinate schedule impacts with the Legislature and stakeholders and would supply the presentation materials to committee members on request.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the garage at this meeting; staff said a preconstruction meeting was scheduled and that mobilization plans would continue to be refined.

The committee will receive further schedule and coordination updates as permitting and preconstruction steps proceed.