The International Bluegrass Music Center in Owensboro is moving closer to reality with a review of construction bids in progress.
Owensboro Assistant City Manager Ed Ray says proposals to build the 48,000-square-foot venue came in from four general contractors by the May 19 deadline.
“This is the brick-and-mortar construction of the facility,” says Ray. “Finishing out nearly all of the facility, including the theater, the sound booths, the green rooms and the staging for all the performance piece of this.”
Ray says plans are on track for construction, based on a preliminary review of the bids.
“They range from a base bid of $9.6 million to $10.5 million. None of them are way out of scale for what we’re looking for, but we’ve got further evaluation to do on each of these bids,” says Ray. “We wholeheartedly believe we’ll be able to start bringing this project out of the ground this summer.”
The total budget for the new International Bluegrass Music Center is $15.3 million. In addition to the basic construction, the remainder of the budget is for audiovisual equipment and other interior finishing work.
