The Wilmette Park District should soon have a construction manager for its upcoming Gillson Park beach house project, now that the district’s board has authorized its staff to negotiate a contract with W.B. Olson, Inc.
The Northbrook-based construction management and general contracting company was chosen from four original bidders for the position, lakefront committee head Ryrie Pellaton told fellow board members at their March 13 meeting. The committee narrowed that to three firms, and interviewed their representatives on Feb. 22, he said.
Commissioner Bryan Abbott, who also sits on the lakefront committee, said he was comfortable with hiring Olson, which has worked with the district on other projects.
Commissioner Gordon Anderson said he believed Olson was the best choice and that he hoped Bill Lambrecht, the district’s parks and planning superintendent, could negotiate a good price for Olson’s contract.
Park board members decided in January to take the advice of Gillson Park project architect Woodhouse and Tinucci and hire a construction manager.
A construction manager brought in at the start of the project can review designs as they are being created, rather than after the design phase is completed, and thus can potentially save the project money, Pellaton told colleagues at their Jan. 9 meeting. The construction manager will take the place of a general contractor, Lambrecht said at that time.
Olson was the construction consultant on the park district’s previous effort to replace the beach house. That design was part of the ultimately unsuccessful 2015 effort by the park board to sell $14.5 million in construction bonds for a broader lakefront upgrade project.
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