News

By Steve Plunkett

    The long-awaited construction of Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s boardwalk loop may begin by the middle of May.
    The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District awarded a contract for $581,680 to low-bidder Close Construction LLC of Okeechobee at its April 4 meeting. The contract was subject to the district’s engineering consultant approving the use of a substitute composite material for the boardwalk and subject to city approval of the contract language.
    Both conditions were met by the district’s April 18 meeting.
    “As soon as we can get all the forms and the insurance together, we’ll be ready to roll,” Arthur Koski, the district’s interim executive director, said.
    Koski said the city promised to expedite issuing a building permit. “We should be under construction shortly,” he said.
    The project covers the first phase of repairing the boardwalk, from the nature center building to the observation tower. The high bid was nearly $1.2 million. Construction is expected to take four months.
    Gumbo Limbo’s boardwalk has been closed since February 2015 when engineers warned it was near collapse.
    The city, which owns the property, asked the beach and park district, which pays the nature center’s operating and maintenance costs, for money to replace the boardwalk.
    The district decided to take a leading role, yielded to the city when it said it could handle the project as quickly as an outside consultant could, then reassumed control when the city changed its mind.
    Additional phases to cover the boardwalk portion through some mangroves and the observation tower will be put out to bid in the future.