Vail wants a competitive process for Artist in Residency studio as costs rise

For nearly two decades, Vail has been working to build a residency program and a dedicated workspace for artists to come and create in town.

With a space in mind at Ford Park for a studio to host the program, the town has been working to create a vision for the site, taking it through the necessary planning and design processes over the past few years.

As the town has moved through the project, however, the cost of creating this 700-square-foot studio space has continued to rise, moving from an initial $850,000 estimate to around $1.5 million.

And so as it looks to move beyond planning and into construction, the Town Council decided on Tuesday to competitively bid out the project. A decision that went against the staff’s recommendation to instead negotiate a contract with RA Nelson, which had been engaged in providing pre-construction cost estimates on the studio.

“We’re here at this point feeling like where Ford Park is and the understanding of just having a low-bid contractor working down in Ford Park with our guests is a little bit of a risk,” Greg Hall, the town’s public works director, said to Town Council. “It’s probably prudent to try and take a shot with RA Nelson and try and negotiate a contract and come back and see if you’re comfortable with where we’re at.”

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In addition to the general contractor having been engaged directly with the project already, Hall said RA Nelson has experience in Ford Park, having worked on the education building, a restroom building and the Amp. This is important as the studio is in a “tight site” in the busy park, Hall noted.

In coming before the Town Council, town staff asked the council for permission to negotiate the construction project as a sole source contract rather than going out to bid for budgetary and time reasons.

“By town code, any capital improvement requires that it be a competitive bid unless the Town Manager requests permission (from Town Council) to negotiate a contract,” Hall said.

In going this route, there would still be a competitive process (run by the general contractor) to obtain the subcontractors, Hall added.  

Currently, the project team has been targeting for the studio to be ready next summer. However, going out to bid could add time and money to this schedule, Hall noted.

Putting together a bid package and then going through the process could have implications for when the project starts, he warned.

Hall suggested that in negotiating with RA Nelson, the town could award the contract in August and have the building enclosed for winter by around Thanksgiving. Pushing this back with a competitive bid process could delay its winter enclosure to January, adding more winter condition mitigation costs, he added.

“You’re rolling the dice,” Hall said.

Having a dedicated timeline will also allow the town to help bring in funds from private donors for the residency program, said Molly Eppard, Vail’s Art in Public Places coordinator.

“While we have a handful of interested people in sustaining the ongoing development and the fundraising initiatives … the question they keep coming back with is ‘Where are you? Where are you in the construction process? What’s the timeline? Is it really going to be next summer?'” Eppard said.

However, against this rationale, the Town Council expressed the importance of going through the competitive process instead.

“I’m not a fan of no-bid contracts. I think it’s a dangerous thing to get into,” said Council member Jonathan Staufer, suggesting the town include the necessary stipulations around working in Ford Park as part of its bid package.

Vail Mayor Travis Coggin agreed, “We need a competitive bid.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, but I am a little nervous given how much more this budget has expanded from when we originally started and then going to a single-source (contract),” Coggin said.   

“The town is committed to this, but we need to see what the market says about this,” he later added.

In the end, the majority of council agreed bidding the project was the way to go.

What the studio will include

The site selected for the studio was identified back in 2003 when the town’s Planning and Environmental Commission first granted a conditional use permit to convert a small, historic structure in Ford Park for this use. The town had considered alternative locations but determined that this original site was the best location for the studio.

The studio itself is designed to include a bathroom, a small office and storage area, a lofted storage area as well as approximately 450 square feet of working studio and display space. There is additional outdoor space adjacent to the studio for further programming and workspace.

The town has budgeted a total of $900,000 for the project, with Art in Public Places committing an additional $250,000. However, as Eppard noted on Tuesday, there are sponsorship opportunities — including naming rights — that the board is actively pursuing.

The future of the residency

Even without the dedicated studio space, the town began work to create the residency program in recent years. It had its first successful program in July 2023 with Washington-based visual artist Squire Broel. However, as it prepared to launch a second residency with Denver-based muralist, writer and artist Danielle SeeWalker for July 2024, the town pulled the plug around 30 days before its scheduled start.

The town announced the residency in May. However, two days after sending its announcement, it canceled the program over what town officials claimed were concerns from residents over a piece of artwork relating to the conflict in Israel and Palestine that SeeWalker had shared on Instagram.

With the town walking back on SeeWalker’s residency, it indicated in a May statement that “the decision to suspend the residency program, only in its second year, was made in part to allow the town time to reexamine its approach and create robust and specific guidelines, timelines and deliverables for both artists and the town to ensure a positive experience for all moving forward.”

Eppard, in an email to the Vail Daily on Wednesday, confirmed that Art in Public Places has engaged a consultant, Nine Dot Arts, to help build a strategic plan for the Artist in Residency program. The plan will have to be approved by staff and the Town Council, and is still a few months out, Eppard added.