Golf course clubhouse renovation price tag nears $500k after equipment contract awarded

The cost of renovating the golf course clubhouse soared to nearly half a million dollars after the Devine City Council’s unanimous approval of a $105,052.44 contract with 1st Choice Restaurant Equipment & Supply, LLC for the purchase and installation of kitchen equipment.
City Administrator John Vidaurri presented bids from 1st Choice and Mission Supply Restaurant at a Special meeting last Tuesday, August 12, and recommended 1st Choice.
“Their bid included delivery, uncrating, assembly inside the kitchen, connection of equipment to utilities, and disposal of the crating debris,” Vidaurri said.

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Mission Supply’s bid was higher than 1st Choice’s and did not meet the bid requirements. The Request For Proposals used for the bids, which includes a list of the kitchen equipment, can be seen on the City’s website at www.cityofdevine.org.
The price of the equipment, along with Vidaurri’s estimate of $3,000 to purchase dishes and flatware for the clubhouse, brings the current projected cost of the building’s renovation to $483,351, outstripping the $450,000 tax note Council approved to pay for the project in September 2020 (see “Devine authorizes $450k tax note for golf course clubhouse renovation” in the Sept. 30, 2020 edition of The Devine News).
Council initially set a target of $250,000 for the clubhouse renovation before ultimately awarding a $336,000 construction contract to Greco Construction on January 26 (see “$336k clubhouse construction contract awarded,” in the February 3 edition of the News).
That figure increased even more after Council agreed to a request from SG Golf Management and Charlie’s Daughter to reconfigure the kitchen and equipment to be comparable to a full-service restaurant, ultimately approving $39,552 in change orders (see “Council takes mulligan, approves additional change orders for clubhouse renovation” in the May 19 ed. of the News).
Vidaurri said the $33,351.44 deficit resulting from those decisions could be paid out of the General Fund’s unrestricted reserves, which he said stood at $440,000, or through a cash transfer from the Utility department.
COVID-related supply and shipping issues are an additional complicating factor.
“[1st Choice] did mention the walk-in cooler and said that is a big-ticket item,” Vidaurri said. “[Delivery] might take two or three months.”
Per its contract with SG Golf Management, the City is required to pay the company $32,536 a month until the turn-key completion of the clubhouse renovation.

Should delivery and installation of the kitchen equipment stretch into Sept., the City will have paid SG Golf Management $650,720 since the company took over day-to-day management of the course on January 1, 2020.
The City does not receive any revenue generated by the course.
A motion by District 3 Councilman David Espinosa and District 4 Councilwoman Kathy Lawler to approve 1st Choice’s bid and amend the budget passed 5-0 with the support of District 1 Councilman Rufino “Flipper” Vega, District 2 Councilwoman Angela Pichardo, and District 5 Councilwoman Debra Randall.
For more on the golf course, see separate article in this edition about the possibility of selling the course being put to public vote in an upcoming election.
The regular monthly Council meeting was scheduled for press night on Tuesday, Aug. 17.
Editor’s Note: The date of the Special meeting was Tuesday, Aug. 10, not Aug. 12. We regret the error.
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer