Council Awards $2.2 Million Contract for Traders Cove Work

The township council awarded a $2.2 million contract to Albert Marine Construction at its meeting Tuesday for work at the Traders Cove Marina site, a savings of $1 million over a previously rejected bid for similar work, officials said.

Deputy Business Administrator Juan Bellu said the $2,208,652 contract will cover the first phase of improvements at the site, which officials hope to eventually turn into a public park. The work will include the replacement of an existing bulkhead, the installation of new bulkhead, construction of a boardwalk, boat ramp and boat hoist, as well as fill management.

The township recently completed a project stretching from the fall which saw the delivery of 30,000 cubic yards of clean fill to the site. Most of the fill came from the dredging of Lake of the Lillies in Point Pleasant Beach and from the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority reserves, according to Business Administrator Scott Pezarras. All of the fill was tested and was “residential grade,” Pezarras has said.

The township council rejected a bid submitted for work on the first phase of the improvement project in December, and officials re-tooled the bid specifications, separating the bulkheading and other aspects of the work into separate projects under the same bid. The move was meant to cut down on the possibility of subcontractors performing some of the work at a higher price, said Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis at the time.

“We saw the savings we could come back with, and we went out to rebid it,” Bellu said Tuesday.

Bellu said Albert Marine Construction, based in Forked River, has a good reputation and “we’re happy they had the low bid.”

The township purchased the Traders Cove site – formerly a derelict marina slated to be turned into condominiums – in 2005, with help from county and state funding sources. Since then, the site, located at the foot of the Mantoloking Bridge, has remained a working marina with the township overseeing its daily operations.