The airport maintenance building, estimated to have been constructed in the early 1950’s, has exceeded its design life. In 2014, the City contracted with Ray + Hollington Architects to perform an assessment on the overall condition of the building. The findings determined the facility to be in an advanced state of disrepair.

The City of Sugar Land, 2015 Facilities Master Plan Update prioritized the building’s replacement.  The purpose of the new Airfield Maintenance Building would support a small staff, storage of materials and equipment to facilitate airfield line and sign maintenance; aircraft tug maintenance/repair and ground equipment servicing.  The building will house taxiway line paint, paint machine, reflectors, bulbs, ballasts, light starters, copper wire and all consumable material required to support continuity of operations.  The facility is designed to support the daily routine maintenance of mowers, blades, belts, tires, bearings, chainsaws, cutters, etc.  The building will also hold the airfield’s structure’s plans and planning documents and historical records to facilitate building maintenance and repair.

The maintenance building will consist of an 8,000 sq. ft. shop area with drive thru access aisle for maintenance of tractors, tugs and people movers.  The office area is designed at 2,560 sq. ft. and will house the men & women’s restrooms, breakroom, manager’s/conference room, shop library & records area, small machine repair and other spaces for data equipment and janitor’s supplies. The project also includes 5 alternates for bidding:

Alt. 1 – Add vehicle storage building (covered storage for tractors, bucket truck, dump truck, etc).

Alt. 2 – Add a wash building for vehicles

Alt. 3 – Add concrete paving to the north side of the building as shown on the civil drawings

Alt. 4 – Add 2 large shop fans in the shop area

Alt. 5 – Add exterior canvas canopies over exterior windows

Edwards & Associates were hired in the Fall of 2016 and performed architectural design services from October 2016 thru June 2017. Sugar Land Purchasing Department coordinating with Engineering and the Airport facilitated project bids. The project advertised for bid on June 28 and July 5 of 2017. A pre-bid meeting was held at the Airport conference room to give potential bidders a chance to ask questions. Bids were received at City Hall on July 18 and were vetted by Purchasing, Airport and the Engineering Department. The turn-out was exceptionally good for this project with 7 qualified bidders submitting.

LDF Construction was the apparent low bid on the project. The bid documents required bidders to have prior airport construction experience and to list references. LDF Construction has prior airport experience and we have verified their references. Following successful verification, it was determined that LDF Construction was more than qualified for contract award. Pricing on the project came in better than expected and we are able to move forward with all 5 alternates included in the construction.

The budget for this project was originally established at $2,250,000.00. To date a total of $174,400.00 has been spent on design services with Edwards & Associates. The available balance is $2,075,600.00 for the construction contract. The remaining balance of $331,540.00 shall be used for architect’s construction administration fees, construction contingency costs, materials testing, and any other miscellaneous costs. The project duration is established at 260 consecutive calendar days, placing the estimated completion date on May 24, 2018. For vertical construction contracts, we are utilizing the AIA Standard Form contract.

A Notice to Proceed shall be issued immediately following Council’s approval of the contract.

The Engineering Department and Sugar Land Regional Airport recommend that the City Council authorize the construction contract with LDF Construction for the new Maintenance Building project, CIP AP1601, in the amount of $1,744,060.00.