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# Steeper costs signal delays in Bus project
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/steeper-costs-signal-delays-in-bus-project/
- Published: 2006-05-11T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:46:15.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*Council vows to find funding for building*

COLORADO AVE. — The price tag for expanding the Big Blue Bus headquarters here has skyrocketed by $60 million in the last two years, forcing city officials to delay building a new administrative building and underground parking, according to city officials.

The cost of the expansion originally was estimated to be $80.4 million, with $59.6 million of that covering construction costs. That was supposed to cover the creation of a new maintenance facility to handle longer buses, and administrative building with underground parking for employees at the corner of Colorado Avenue and Seventh Street, now home to the OPCC access center, a drop-in center for homeless people. The access center is set to be relocated to a site adjacent SAMOSHEL, a homeless shelter located on the south side of the bus yard.

The most recent estimate for the project puts the price tag at $140.2 million, with $95 million in construction costs. Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson said City Hall is about $50 million short. As a result, plans will move forward with the design of the new maintenance facility, which is crucial to operations, but the administrative building and parking would be postponed until funds are made available.

Still, the City Council on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to finding money for the administration building, making note of the effort in designing a facility that would make that section of the street more aesthetically pleasing.

The OPCC access center relocation is estimated to cost $5.7 million, an increase of $2.7 million, according to a city staff report.

The bus fuel and wash facility has already been completed as part of the expansion.

Much of the increase is due to dramatic fluctuations in the price for materials such as steel. In the last two years, construction demands and costs have increased world-wide at a rate of more than 30 percent annually, industry observers said.

“In addition to increasing material and labor costs, the uncertainty in the steel and cement markets is driving pricing,” said Karl F. Almstead, vice president of Turner Corp., a Dallas-based construction trade organization that has conducted quarterly forecasts on construction costs for the last 50 years. “Although construction activity appears to be increasing, the overall competitive environment is counteracting some of the pricing pressure.”

The dramatic increase in fuel costs, as well as petroleum-based products, also has contributed to the hike along with competition for those materials from China, which is experiencing a boom in development, according to Associated Builders and Contractors, a national trade organization.

According to Anderson, the Big Blue Bus expansion was delayed for several years because it was difficult to find an appropriate location for OPCC given the lack of available sites in Santa Monica. Some design changes also contributed to the delay, further increasing the cost of the project.

To handle the escalating costs, the City Council voted to approve a design contract with Morley Construction and the architectural firm Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (HOK) to develop an alternative expansion plan that would preserve the original concept, but be less costly. That effort is expected to be completed by the end of the year, at which time complete design documents and at least 50 percent of construction plans will be prepared.

The expansion is in its initial phase and construction for the new OPCC access center is expected to begin in July and last about a year.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 11, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051106.pdf?ref=smdp.com)