2012 Street Project Comes in $500K Below Expectations

Owners of properties on streets that will be repaired this summer are getting a bit of a break from earlier assessments thanks to a bid that came in more than $500,000 below expectations.

This year’s street improvements project was originally predicted to come in at $3.1 million, including contingency costs and overhead. However, Hopkins council members awarded a $2.5 million bid last week.

The decline caused Third Street assessments to drop about $1,000, a 30 percent decrease, while Fourth Street homeowners had assessments fall 15 percent or about $500.

Nonresidential properties along Minnetonka Mills saw assessments decline by 20 percent. Prior to the bid, Alice Smith was predicted to be assessed $250,000 and $86,000.

Sixth Avenue, Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue homeowners will not see a change because the city already capped their assessments and the reduced rates are not lower than that cap.

“All in all, it’s very good news from where we started,” said City Engineer John Bradford.

Low bids have been common since the downturned economy forced contractors to look harder for work. Last year’s street project bid .

But this year’s good news came even as indicators suggest the construction market is recovering. Notably, just three companies submitted bids this year, fewer than in the past, Bradford said.

Despite the improving economy, assessments were a big concern for for undertaking such a project while many people still struggle.

This year’s project will realign Minnetonka Mills Road so that it dead-ends at Ninth Avenue. There will also be work on:

• Gethsemane Road
• Fourth Street North, between 10th and 11th Avenues North,
• Ninth Avenue North, between Minnetonka Mills and Third Street North,
• Third Street North, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues North,
• Eighth Avenue North, between First and Second Street North and
• Two alleys. 

(For full details, click on the PDFs to the right of the article.)

Construction is scheduled to begin in June and continue through October.

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