THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412170208
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: GLOUCESTER POINT, VA. LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science is seeking ways to close a $2.6 million gap between what it planned to spend on a new laboratory building and what contractors say the facility will cost.
VIMS can scale back its design and seek new bids, negotiate with the contractor that provided the low bid for the original design or ask the state for more money, said Hank Humphreys, a VIMS spokesman.
``The third option is probably the most remote of the three,'' Humphreys said.
The state has granted the institute $8.5 million for the lab building.
But five contractors submitted bids earlier this month that ranged from $11.1 million to $12.5 million. Unless something changes, Humphreys said, the project cannot go forward.
The three-story, 62,000-square-foot building would be the institute's largest and would double the amount of laboratory space on VIMS' 35-acre campus at Gloucester Point.
The main reason that the bids turned out higher than expected is that the cost was estimated in 1989, Humphreys said. Construction prices have risen sharply since.
The project has been delayed because funding was not approved until passage of a higher education bond referendum in 1992.
Humphreys said VIMS had contingency plans to deal with a $1 million gap, but ``there's too much difference here.''
VIMS, a branch of the College of William and Mary, had hoped to break ground on the building next spring and complete it in 1996. A new timetable depends on how the funding shortfall is handled.
``We're hoping to move forward with something shortly after the first of the year,'' Humphreys said.
``What that will be, I'm not sure.'' by CNB