The Pasadena City Council on Tuesday approved a contract of up to $11.1 million for demolition and preconstruction work on a new bus yard that must open by June 30, 2028, still about $18.4 million short of the total funding required to complete the overall project.
City staff plan to cover that gap with Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Measure R funds the city has not yet formally requested.
Metro has identified $49.1 million in unallocated Measure R funds reserved for Pasadena, the staff report says, but an award requires Metro approval and a separate Council vote to appropriate it.
The capital improvement program lists the Transit Operations and Maintenance Facility at $100 million in cost.
“We’re going to be conservative because we don’t want to ask for too little money,” said Hayden Melbourn, a Public Works principal engineer who has worked on the project since 2015.
The city’s transit contractor runs Pasadena Transit and Dial-A-Ride from a privately owned yard at 303 N. Allen Ave. leased for decades. The owner has notified the operator that the lease ends June 30, 2028, a date Melbourn called a “drop dead.”
The new yard will occupy three parcels: 2180 E. Foothill Blvd. and 2211 E. Walnut St., which the city owns, and 2160 E. Foothill Blvd., which is in escrow. Melbourn said the sale should close in November.
Plans for that parcel remain conceptual, the report says.
The contract carries about $1 million in contingency for unforeseen conditions. The site is next to an old railroad track and may once have held a dry cleaner, Melbourn said.
“We have potholed that site considerably,” he said. “However, you never know what you do find when you keep going down.”
PCL Construction Services’ proposal targets completion in May 2028, staff training in June and full operation, including the move from Allen Avenue, on July 1, the day after the lease ends, subject to timely approvals, design completion, permitting, procurement and a successful guaranteed-maximum-price negotiation, the report says.
Tuesday’s action authorizes $999,362 for preconstruction and design services, $9,134,581 for demolition, grading and environmental remediation, and $1,013,395 in contingency, paid from existing appropriations with no General Fund impact, the report says.
It does not authorize construction of the facility itself; Melbourn said staff expect to return early next year with a guaranteed maximum price for Phase 2, which requires a separate Council vote and sufficient appropriations.
PCL ranked first among five proposers with 127 of 150 points. Councilmember Rick Cole said the same company won the $186 million Central Library retrofit contract and a $26 million Rose Bowl Field Club contract and asked staff to reassure the public PCL had not “developed just an inside track.”
Public Works Director Greg de Vinck said he felt the process remained fair and unbiased, that PCL’s markups were lower than three of the four other proposers, and noted that repeatedly awarding large contracts to one firm could discourage competition.
“I’m uncomfortable with it, but I’m going to support it,” Cole said.
On a motion by Councilmember Tyron Hampton, the Council set an aspirational goal of 20 percent for local hiring hours, local vendors and local materials, above the 15 percent of labor hours PCL had proposed; the contract’s binding commitment remains at least 10 percent of direct construction costs reinvested in Pasadena.
The city’s first 17 fuel-cell buses are due in December and will be maintained at the Allen Avenue yard until the new yard opens, the staff report says.
The item passed without objection and without a roll call.
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