Edinburg Council Moves Forward on Downtown Parking Garage, Sets $6.2M Budget Limit
Arnoldo Mata
EDINBURG, Texas — The Edinburg City Council has advanced plans for a downtown parking garage, deciding to start negotiations with the top contractor and setting a firm budget limit of $6.2 million as part of the design-build process.
“This item is for the downtown parking garage. We did go through a design-build process,” said City Engineer Mardoqueo Hinojosa. “We had five RFQs presented, all moved to round two, which is the RFP process.”
The evaluation committee — made up of Hinojosa, the utilities director, two assistant city managers and a consultant from Brownstone — scored firms based on nine criteria, including cost control, technical expertise and delivery schedules.
Council members raised concerns over the lack of a final design. In response, Carlos Garza, part of the city’s evaluation team, explained: “Several firms submitted a design intent but not a full design. One of the criteria was cost control and how they plan to achieve that. During interviews, firms were asked how they would control the budget.”
Garza added that the process “behooves them to bring it in under budget or else they don’t have a project to construct.”
Council members questioned what would happen if negotiations with the top-ranked firm failed or if costs exceeded the budget. Garza assured, “The statute does allow you, if you cannot reach a negotiation with the number one ranked firm, to move on to number two, then three, and so on.”
Council members also debated the fairness of awarding points for price assurances when no final design was yet submitted. “Those that said yes in the interview — and then come back saying they can’t meet $6.2M — what does that do to our procurement process?” asked Daniel ‘Dan’ Diaz, Councilmember Place 1. Garza responded that pricing was “a very small percentage of the scoring” and wouldn’t significantly alter rankings.
The top two recommended firms were Broadus Construction and Gerlach Builders. “Both firms committed to meeting the city’s budget and demonstrated strong technical expertise,” Garza said.
Council members also pressed for transparency and flexibility if top-ranked firms fail to meet the budget. “If Broadus doesn’t stay within $6.2M, we go to number two without having to wait a month to come back. We’d like to be kept informed,” Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr. stated.
Garza expressed confidence in the process and in the recommended firms. “I have a high level of confidence, especially with the top two ranked firms. They came in with efficiencies they were already thinking about, and their technical presentations were strong.”
The council approved a motion to move forward with negotiations starting with Broadus Construction, followed by Gerlach Builders and the remaining ranked firms if needed. Staff will keep council members updated on progress. Design for the structure still needs to be approved before construction can begin.
The 256-space garage is intended to support downtown businesses, the courthouse, and civic facilities.