Center Street construction project awarded

Improvements related to City Market development could begin next month

Mentor City Council this week awarded the Center Street Resurfacing, Rightturn Lane and Signalization project for the City Market development.

Council approved hiring Karvo Companies Inc. of Stow at a cost of about $1.5 million. The business was the low bidder among five, with bids ranging up to more than $1.7 million. The engineer’s opinion of probable construction cost was $1.6 million.

“This is to get moving the improvements that the city has agreed to as part of the market development project,” City Manager Ken Filipiak said. “The only aspect that would still be outstanding and cost related to this project would be the utility relocations, and we’re still working through that with those respective utilities.”

The project will involve asphalt pavement resurfacing of Center Street from Fracci Court to the Route 2 eastbound ramp. Work will include the installation of a right-turn lane into City Market for southbound Center Street traffic, construction of an island where the previous turn lane to Kelly Drive was and constructing traffic signals at the entrance to City Market on Center Street and Tyler Boulevard.

Completion is scheduled for Oct. 18. The start date is yet to be determined.

“However, we would expect to see some utility relocation activity beginning in April or May with construction activities possibly commencing in May or June,” Mentor Engineer Dave Swiger said.

The development is expected to generate about 700 vehicular trips — including entering and exiting vehicles — in the morning peak hour and roughly 600 trips in the evening peak hour. The average daily traffic on Route 615 is about 26,000 vehicles per day and the Tyler Boulevard count is 14,000 vehicles per day.

“The proposed roadway improvements are designed to minimize any negative impacts the additional traffic may have on the nearby roadway network,” Swiger said.

The new median is intended not only to bar left turns into the development, but also to improve aesthetics, he said.

The roadway improvements are being paid for with tax increment financing, according to an agreement with VOH-Mentor, LLC. The agreement includes a 100 percent, 30year TIF deal.

The TIF will enable the city to make payments on the work with taxes accrued on the increased value of the property once the development is completed. The developer has indicated that the appraised value of the improvements will be more than $20 million and that the taxes generated by the project will be sufficient to cover the cost of the upgrades.

The Mentor School District will still receive all of the revenue it would have had the TIF not been in place.

City Market’s anchor tenant will be a 55,000-squarefoot Giant Eagle. The design shows six outlots and an area designated as Phase II. The development will total 172,000 square feet and is targeted to open in the fall.