By Alyssa Schnugg
Staff writer
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
Last month in a public meeting about the future downtown parking garage, several downtown business owners asked city officials to consider holding off the construction of the downtown parking garage until after football season.
Now, because of a contractor’s inability to put up a performance bond, those business owners are getting exactly what they wanted.
On Tuesday, the Oxford Board of Aldermen called a special meeting and then met in executive session for the better part of an hour. Afterward, the board announced that Shaw Services of Holly Springs, who won the bid to do the excavation and site work for the garage – a more than $3 million job – failed to provide a performance bond and the job would need to be rebid.
Oxford Public Work Director Bart Robinson said that will put off construction probably until mid-November.
The city will advertise for bids in the next two weeks. Those bids will be accepted until Oct. 9 and go before the Board of Aldermen on Oct. 16 to approve the lowest and best bid.
“Until then, we will take the fence down around the parking lot so it can be used for parking,” said Mayor Robyn Tannehill.
Robinson said city crews will begin taking down the construction fence Tuesday afternoon.
The construction of the garage is expected to take about 12 months.
“We are going to do our best to have it open by next year’s football season,” Robinson said.
Once completed, the garage will be a three-story, four-level parking structure located behind the Oxford North Square shopping plaza. The structure will provide about 401 spaces with an additional 90 surface parking spaces around the garage.
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