More than $40 million in subcontract work for the big Spokane Convention Center expansion project will be coming down the pike in the nearing months, with much of it to be awarded this summer.


The Spokane Public Facilities District and Hoffman-Bouten, a joint venture that is the general contractor-construction manager on the project, currently are seeking requests for qualifications from subcontractors to perform mechanical, electrical, and concrete work on the $79.4 million project.


Meantime, Hoffman-Bouten already has begun accepting bids for site preparation work, which is expected to cost about $2.5 million, according to a bid timetable provided by Spokane PFD. That bid period ends June 8, and contracts for the site-prep work will be awarded later that month. Work on those contracts is expected to start July 6.


Also next month, the PFD and Hoffman-Bouten will firm up a guaranteed maximum price for construction, a typical step in a large public-works project such as the convention center expansion. That step is scheduled to be completed by July 6, says Matt Walker, a PFD project manager.


Hoffman-Bouten includes Hoffman Construction Co., of Portland, and Bouton Construction Co., of Spokane.


Of the $79.4 million overall project cost, construction costs are expected to be no more than $55.8 million, Walker says. The balance of the cost involves land acquisition, architectural fees, and other soft costs, he says.


Hoffman-Bouten will begin accepting bids next month from subcontractors for $8.5 million in concrete work and other early construction, the timetable says. In addition to structural concrete work, other tasks that will be bid at that time include structural excavation and backfill, subsurface drainage, and roughing in of structural plumbing, fire protection, and electrical systems.


Bids on all that work will be opened in late July. Contracts for it are expected to be signed by mid-August, and the first work under those contracts is scheduled to start later that month.


The remaining subcontractor work, about $30.5 million worth, will be awarded through a bid package that will include steel work, complete mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work, and finishing exterior and interior work.


Hoffman-Bouten will accept bids on that work between Oct. 25 and Dec. 7, and will issue contracts later in December, according to the timetable. The first parts of that work are scheduled to start in early January.


In addition to the more than $40 million in work to be bid this year, $5 million worth of jobs will be bid in spring 2005 for subcontractors who will do renovations to the Convention Center.


Additional construction-related costs include general contractors fees and services and sales tax, Walker says


The convention center expansion, designed by Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, and LMN Architects, of Seattle, will include 100,000 square feet of new exhibit hall space. The speedboat-shaped structure will be located east of the current convention facilities.