Here is the skinny from Anita Lee:
The low bidder was Roy Anderson Corp. of Gulfport with a bid of $52.1 million, followed by Thrash Commercial Contractors of Brandon at $57 million and Wharton-Smith Inc. at $59.7 million.
The low bid came in almost at the budgeted price for the main aquarium structures, which is $52 million.
Sweet serendipity folks. I wonder what made up the 8.77% RA left on the table?
Now a damn good question from a reader. To set up the line of thinking we have another recent news story from the City of Waveland, which is still trying to rid itself of the albatross that is the “free” business incubator that was built with government money after the Hurricane. You see folks when it comes to maintaining “free” assets like a commercial building, there is no such thing as free.
Along those lines there is the “free” BP money and the new Mississippi Aquarium. Already millions have been spent on site prep with another $54 million on tap for construction of the structures. If we learned anything from Boss Hogg’s adventures in building rural water systems in northern Harrison County after Hurricane Katrina, the bricks and mortar are never the problem in Mississippi, its the pie in the sky economic projections that fail to materialize after that are the problem.
A good follow up question is who gets stuck with the bill if the new aquarium fails to attract enough paid attendance?