Hurricane Harvey hit Port Aransas, home of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, as a Category 4 hurricane Aug. 25-26. It destroyed more than buildings. Laboratory equipment and research samples were also ruined. Courtesy photo
A request for proposals has been issued to reconstruct the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, which suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Harvey. The RFP is for a construction manager-at-risk contract for reconstruction of buildings on the Port Aransas property. Rebuilding costs are estimated to range from $30 million to $50 million.
The oldest and most significant marine research facility on the Texas Gulf Coast, UTMSI was damaged by high winds and water, which destroyed more than just the buildings. Laboratory equipment and research samples were wiped out and unusable due to contamination.
Planning and design work for the first Guaranteed Maximum Price are underway. Pre-construction should begin early in November. Bidding for trades for GMP should begin around Nov. 30. Future GMPs will be issues through December 2019 as projects are identified. Construction should begin in December of this year. (See Virtual Builders Exchange Project ID 2017-931A.)
“The key mission of this project is restoration of the UTMSI facilities to their pre-Harvey condition to allow normal operations to resume as soon as possible,” states the RFP.
Currently, researchers and scientists are working on the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi campus.
The institute will make a comeback, promised Georgia Neblett, UTMSI assistance director of external relations.
"The science that goes on at the Marine Science Institute impacts not only the state of Texas, but impacts the whole globe," she said. "It will be a new normal, but this institute will be back, and it will become more important generationally as we become more dependent upon our coast and oceans."
