SIOUX CITY — The Sioux City Council will be asked Monday to award a $1.2 million contract to a Reinbeck, Iowa, heavy and highway contractor for the construction of the Southbridge Business Park Cold-Link Rail Spur Project.
The city is constructing the rail spur from the city-owned lead track north to serve Cold-Link Logistics, a 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility that the Florida-based cold storage company is constructing in phases on a 40-acre parcel in Southbridge Business Park.
The rail spur, which will be adjacent to the future Andrew Avenue south of 225th Street, was included as part of the city’s development agreement with Cold Like Logistics for the project.
The IDOT Commission has approved a Rail Revolving Loan and Grant Program award to provide up to 50% of the funding for the spur. The city’s portion of the project will be paid through government obligation bonds. Funding will be requested in FY 2024.
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Five bids were received for the project, but one of those bids was rejected due to unauthorized additions and alterations to the bid form. Peterson Contractors, Inc. submitted the low bid of $1,285,727.55, which is nearly 7% or $92,553.45 below the Engineer’s Estimate of $1,378,281.
This project, which has a late start date of Sept. 12, will be completed within 70 working days by the end of December.
A lease agreement committing Cold-Link Logistics to fund all future maintenance and operational costs of the rail spur will be brought to the council for consideration at a later date.
Cold-Link Logistics was founded by brothers Michael, Mark and Nick Mandich in 2020. According to the company’s website, the Mandich Group owns and manages eight properties throughout the United States, with over 2 million square feet of cold/dry storage assets under management.
The company will staff the first phase of its Sioux City facility with 60 employees, including 50 production staff at an hourly wage of over $23 per hour.
