COLUMBIA, S.C. — The City of Columbia approved $20 million in funding for the renovation of Finlay Park in February, now the city is looking for help with the work needed to restore the park and hopes to hire locally.
The Office of Business Opportunities gathered primary and subcontractors with interest in the park together to get more information on the project.
Project Manager Todd Martin says this has been a long time coming.
"I've been working on this project in different forms since 2014 actually, so I'm just excited to see implementing the project, it's just been a really fun process," Martin stated.
The city says there are 11 different assignments for subcontractors available across the 14-acre space. Ayesha Driggers, the Director of the Office of Business Opportunities says those overseeing the project are making sure all of the companies hired are local.
"Since it's such a large project it really is important that we were able to look at ways to make it a little bit smaller for greater participation from our small businesses," Driggers explained.
These subcontractors will be working on everything from lighting to water features, and will likely need extra help.
"Hopefully some of our contractors will have to hire additional labor to perform the job. This is a large job, so hopefully they will have to increase their workforce to complete the project in the time frame," said Driggers.
The groundbreaking for the park is tentatively scheduled for July, but Martin says the entire vision will take a year to complete. The bids for contractors opened last Thursday and will remain open until May 3.
All interested contractors and subcontractors willing to help with this project are encouraged to call Cassandra Fletcher at the Office of Business Opportunities, at (803) 545-4185 or email her at cassandra.fletcher@columbiasc.gov.