SMYRNA, Georgia — The city council opted to cancel a contract with a company building a surface parking lot near downtown and look for a new partner after “unanticipated conditions” arose.
On Monday, council members agreed to nix the deal with Marietta-based CSTE. The city inked a deal with the company on Aug. 12 to construct a 44-space surface parking lot at 2688 Atlanta Road for $321,000.
The city took action due to “unanticipated conditions we’ve encountered with this project,” City Manager Joseph Bennett said during a Monday council meeting. Problems include unsuitable soil and a natural spring.
“The purpose of this request to terminate is to find a more suitable contractor that can handle some of the field conditions that were found,” the city manager added.
City officials originally planned to build a 173-space parking deck at the location but shifted their plans amid rising costs. Officials indicated the deck could have cost $7 million, or about $40,000 per space.
The amount the city will pay CSTE is unclear. A spokeswoman said the city is waiting for the company to submit expenses to date, and then officials will evaluate the request.
“The termination of the existing contract for the parking lot allows the city to better evaluate the unforeseen conditions that were uncovered and prepare appropriate solutions to address them,” Jennifer Bennett, a spokeswoman for Smyrna, told Sightseers’ Delight. “Once the engineered solution has been determined, the revised design will be advertised and a new contract awarded based on the revised scope of work.
“Please note that this revised scope will account for any work that has already been completed by the awarded contractor,” the spokeswoman added. “The contractor will be compensated for expenses to date, which have not been finalized. Neither a new budget nor a revised timeline has been determined yet as these are both dependent upon the revised design.”