Gary municipal officials received bids from two firms Friday bidding to develop a plan for of a proposed civil rights museum.
The Merrillville-based Arsh Group and ConsultEcon firm of Cambridge, Mass., submitted proposals.
Gary Community Development Director Arlene Colvin said city officials received both bids in the final hour prior to a Friday afternoon deadline the city had established for the project.
Proposals from the two firms were not immediately reviewed, but Colvin said “we do intend to enter into a contract with a firm this month.” City officials previously said they hope to choose firms for the project by mid-February, with the firms to begin actual work on March 5 and to be complete by Aug. 31.
The firms are being considered for contracts to do a feasibility study that would determine the best site in Gary to build a museum, according to the cty’s official request for proposals. A business plan is also a requirement.
The city and the Gary-based National Civil Rights Institute and Hall of Fame group both provided some funds, but the bulk of the payments to the firms will come from a federal Commerce Department economic development administration grant totaling $60,000.
City officials previously indicated a desire to split the studies among separate firms. Colvin would not say whether that will still happen with so few bidders.
The idea of a museum and Hall of Fame devoted to the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century has long been a desire of former Mayor Richard Hatcher, who says he thinks such an attraction would bring tourists to Gary.
A request for proposals published by Gary last month indicates a desire that other businesses be created or upgraded in the city so as to serve the people who would come to Gary to visit such a museum.
City officials also have cited the fact that Hatcher himself was one of the first African-Americans to be elected as a mayor as reason to put such a museum in Gary.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.