Schor responds to council push to rebid site for new City Hall

LANSING — Mayor Andy Schor said Tuesday, the day after half of city council asked for a new bidding process, that he does not plan to seek new bids for a city hall proposal.

It is not clear what will happen to $40 million in state funds, set aside by legislators last year to fund a better city hall, if the potential stalemate is not resolved. State legislators gave a tentative completion date of late 2027.

Schor said, in a statement, the city conducted a legal bidding process known as a request for proposals (RFP) and awarded a city hall improvement package to Boji Group, which plans to turn a former Masonic Temple in downtown into the new city hall with the current city hall expected to be sold for a hotel development.

"The city does not put RFPs with winning bids out for rebid," Schor said. "This would be unprecedented in any city, and certainly in Lansing. This would make all future RFPs the city issues and awards worth little, and would greatly discourage people from bidding in the future."

Schor said if the city council members remain opposed to the city's plan, he will begin to look at alternatives.

Council members Jeffrey Brown, Trini Pehlivanoglu, Tamera Carter and Ryan Kost submitted a letter Monday opposing the city's plan, saying they wanted another bid process that would be run by a "credible outsourced entity to provide an unbiased scoring to select a winner."

Brown said Tuesday afternoon that he was not able to immediately comment on the mayor's pushback, but said he would talk to the State Journal on Wednesday.

Pehlivanoglu, Carter and Kost did not respond to messages left on their city cell phones.

The city went through a bidding process for a better city hall that started in 2021, before the four were council members, and bids were submitted in 2022.

Three applicants submitted proposals, but the city told them there wasn't enough money.

Boji Group was named the winner of the bid, but only if they could come up with an alternative plan that the city could afford, according to a city timeline of the project.

Granger Group and Chicago-based Beitler Real Estate Group also submitted plans at the time. According to a city timeline of the project, Granger did not follow up with additional proposals to fund their project and Beitler's proposal was to reuse the current city hall.

Granger Group did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. Ron Boji, CEO of the Boji Group, declined to comment.

One big change since the original request for bids is that the plan no longer needs to include space, or costs, for police and lockup facilities. A separate city bond, approved by voters in 2022, will pay for a $175 million public safety complex.

While voters were considering that bond approval, Boji Group revised their still-open bid in 2022 with the city and changed their proposal from two former Cooley Law School buildings to the former Masonic Temple, also a former part of the law school. The city bid was still open but only viable if Boji Group could lobby state officials to help fund the project, according to the city timeline.

City officials, including Schor and Council President Jeremy Garza, have credited Boji Group's lobbying efforts, along with the unusual circumstance of appropriations leaders being from the Lansing area at a time when the federal government was handing out big infrastructure checks.

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Schor responds to council push to rebid site for new City Hall