Project Just About Ready To Begin

At last night’s St. Clair County Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners approved a contract with Orion Construction in Grand Rapids to oversee the $9 million project on a 5-2 vote. Commissioners Steven Simasko and David Rushing voted against the contract.  Orion Construction guaranteed the convention center will not cost more than the county has budgeted for it.  Commissioners gave an employee of Orion Construction authorization to be the county’s signatory on all closing documents for Blue Water Area Convention Center contracts.  A contract that originally was supposed to be approved with the convention center’s architect, Convergence Design of Kansas City was  pulled from the agenda as it is incomplete.  Authorities expect the contract will be finalized in the next few days and will be before the commissioners at their next meeting. It is expected that developer John Wheeler will close on the sale of the Thomas Edison Inn by the first to middle of next week.