|
|
 12.22.2005 New Amenities for Meillennium Park? |
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Millennium Park patrons could be treated to an array of new amenities -- from baby strollers and washroom concierges to professional photographers and Disney-trained employees -- when the park is turned over to a new property manager next year.
In a request for proposals, the city said it wants to make a "seamless transition" to a new property manager "no later than May 1, 2006." It marks the first open competition to manage the $475 million park that has become one of Chicago s primary tourist attractions.
Since its grand opening in July 2004, Millennium Park has been managed by MB Real Estate, whose founder and former owner, J. Paul Beitler, has been one of Mayor Daley s biggest campaign contributors.
MB Real Estate had an all-purpose contract for "property management, brokerage and real estate consulting services" with the city s Department of General Services that has twice been amended to include Millennium Park without competitive bidding. The 2003 and 2004 modifications to the original contract total $12.5 million.
Not thinking ahead
Beitler is now vying to take the no-bid contract away from the company he sold 3-1/2 years ago.
He s arguing that the contract should have been competitively bid from the beginning and that he could do a better job. The Beitler Co. was recently awarded a contract to manage Metra s Randolph Street Station, now known as the Millennium Park Station.
"In the bathrooms, concierges sit there all day long and give the patrons mints. The city wants the same thing. They want to bring an entrepreneurialism to what has traditionally been a stoic, bureaucratic operation," Beitler said.
"The current manager is performing a function, but he s not thinking ahead. We want to put in strollers for people who have children. We want to put park employees through Disney training in interpersonal relationships. People come from all over the world to see The Bean [sculpture]. We d like to have a professional photographer there and at other primary points in the park taking digital photographs, instead of people running around with their own cameras. It s a wonderful revenue source for the city."
Beitler is also offering better snow removal at Millennium Park -- especially on the BP Pedestrian Bridge, the first bridge ever designed by architect Frank Gehry.
Officials at MB Real Estate could not be reached for comment. Neither could Mike McMurray, managing deputy for the city s Department of General Services.
City Hall sources said the original park management contract was not competitively bid because Millennium Park was a unique attraction and city officials had no idea what the operating and maintenance standards should be.
The request for proposals spells out the "operational excellence and customer-service orientation" that City Hall expects at a "world-class outdoor art museum located in downtown Chicago."
Cleaning 3 times a day
"At least twice daily, the operations manager and supervisors shall walk the property. The purpose of the walk is to maintain high cleaning standards and to determine areas that need special attention. A discrepancy noted must be rectified before the next walk-through," the document states.
Four Segway human transporters "must be deployed at all times," with Segway tours of the property "performed 24 hours a day, seven days a week." The only exceptions are "heavy rain downpours," temperatures below 20 degrees, strong winds and conditions that cause "ice and snow in the walkway."
The city also spells out "daily cleaning specifications" for every feature at Millennium Park. The bike station must be cleaned, wiped and swept three times daily. At the BP Pedestrian Bridge, the walkway must be "swept and washed daily," while railings are "wiped down and free of fingerprints." |
|
