Contract Awarded, Construction Co. Approved for New Levitt in Westport

In the final phase of approvals, Westport’s Board of Selectman unanimously approved a construction company $1.1 million.

The town will be reimbursed $100,000 following the completion of the project.

Of the six bids Westport accepted for the job, , said Levitt Board member Stuart McCarthy, who is the project manager for the construction of the new Levitt Pavilion. The actual construction cost to build the new facility is $6,128,000.

“This is it,” McCarthy said. “This is the last step in what has been a very long process to develop the new Levitt Pavilion.”

The company Westport selected, Verdi Construction, is the same construction company that completed the Longshore Club Park tennis pavilion project, which was a very successful project that was on time and came in under budget, according to McCarthy.

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In addition, Peter Cadoux, the architect for the new Levitt Pavilion, was the architect for the tennis facility. The contractor and architect will have a ‘great comfort level’ while working on this project, McCarthy said.

“With the approval of this contract we look forward to the Levitt Pavilion handing over some five million dollars within the next few weeks and getting moving with this project,” McCarthy said. “We are very exited to be moving forward.”

The project, which is scheduled to take nine months, will begin in late September and be completed prior to the next performance season at the end of June 2013.

“It will be a tight schedule,” McCarthy said. “This has been timed all along to be able to begin construction at the end of a performance season and end at the beginning of the next performance season.”

First Selectman Gordon Joseloff said that he has confidence that Verdi Construction is fully capable of doing the job they say that they can do and are capable of working with contingencies.

Second Selectwoman Shelley Kassen was excited and said she thought the community has really come around.

“I think a couple of years ago we would have looked at this with some fear and hesitation, given the economy and what could be, but I think people have come to see the benefit and the joys that come from the pavilion, Kassen said.”