Southeast Park’s 62 acres and 28 tennis courts

In March 2002, Jeff Price of Jeff Price Tennis Ski & Skate on Devine Street wrote Mayor Coble and all the members of city council. His ideas were valid, but none was taken:

“To all Columbia City Council members ...if what I am reading is true ...it makes sense to consider a new facility ...then the city can close down the old Columbia Tennis Center...make that neighborhood happy and put that land to other use ...Maybe even work with USC (if that’s possible) and relocate their tennis teams adjacent to the new city facility ...land swap for the old Women’s Club property? ...Joint venture or separate, it is a thought ...Columbia may have the perfect opportunity to build the premier tennis facility in the state ...”

The thinking behind Price’s suggestions was how to accommodate Columbia’s incredibly successful tennis league competition program. The tennis community agreed at least 30 new courts were required to maintain Columbia’s success story.

A month later, mid–April 2002, Frank Larkin of Howard B. Jones & Son, the tennis court contractor then finishing the 21 courts for Lexington County on Oak Drive, offered his expertise on land use:

“The total number of square feet in an acre is 43,560. The total number of square feet in a single court is 7,200. If you had a square piece of land and were putting courts only, you could fix six courts in an acre. Parking for a facility that you are looking at would take approximately 1.5–2 acres. The parking would depend on local requirements.

“A very feasible number to use would be four courts per acre. This would leave you 33% of each acre to landscape, etc. If you have a piece of property that was 15–18 acres, you should be okay. I have attached another copy of budget estimates for hard courts and hydrocourts. Please call me with any questions.”

Columbia saw a need for more land than Larkin’s recommendation of 15–18 acres. The city bought 62 acres (listed by then city councilman Papadea’s firm, Edens & Avant) just beyond Wal–Mart on Garners Ferry Road for a little more than $2 million.

Over two years later, mid–September 2004, Columbia’s recreation superintendent, Jeff Rainwater, wrote the Columbia Tennis League Association:

“• First phase of tennis courts construction should start in October or early November (2004) with some courts ready in late spring of 2005.

• The contract with Ken Simmons (landscape architect) is for the entire 62 acres including the dam and spillway and is $195,360.

• The contract with Global Tennis Design is separate of Mr. Simmons and is for both sites, Southeast Park and The Columbia Tennis Center, and is $212,000.

• First phase includes development of the roadway, parking lots, playfields, and the new dam and is approximately $2 million.

• First phase of the tennis courts will include construction of 14 courts.”

In fact, the cost Rainwater predicted as $2 million turned into over $3.5 million for the same scope of work.

The cost of the tennis clubhouse is to be added to the $3.5 million later. The potential opening date for the first finished courts appears to be coming in 18 months after Rainwater’s predicted November 2004. According to assistant city manager Allison Baker, plan on first use of the courts after May 1, 2006, over four years after the rejected ideas of tennis retailer Jeff Price.

Well after Rainwater’s missive of September 2004, Ken Eubanks, a CPA with the tennis court contractor Howard B. Jones & Son, suggested some cost estimates to the Columbia Tennis League Association:

“These are budget figures which would be on the high end of a court installation. Please note these costs do not include any grading, engineering, drainage, or other work. These costs also assume that the pads are on grade prior to the court contractor starting construction of the courts.

• Cost for single court with vinyl coated fencing, net posts, nets, and color coatings – $28,000.

• To add lights would be – 6 fixtures per court – $7,500, and 8 fixtures per court – $9,250.

• If shade shelter is selected – costs would be $3,900 including installation.”

Moreover, what Columbia’s tennis community is getting are courts costing over $80,000, not the near–$40,000 estimated by the tennis court contractor Howard B. Jones & Son, the people who built Lexington County’s facility on Oak Drive for the prices cited by CPA Eubanks. Also, the Columbia Tennis League will have the use of 14 new courts, not the 30 in proven demand.

When the 14 new courts come into use, the 14 at the Columbia Tennis Center will then be ripped up and replaced, taking those 14 out of use for at least another year.

Once the Columbia Tennis Center reopens, probably in the fall of 2007, the second half of tennis court construction is planned for Southeast Park on Garners Ferry Road, bringing the total number of courts to 28, probably by spring of 2008, six years after tennis retailer Price’s rejected recommendations, all for twice the cost per court what Lexington County spent on Oak Drive.

Now that a huge budget is in play and now that an extended schedule is under way, to bring all this in on time and under budget is simple enough. The first phase of Southeast Park has a general contractor, Cherokee Construction, a Columbia old–line firm. And Southeast Park has a landscape architect to monitor construction, Ken Simmons, a Columbia old–line firm. And Cherokee’s tennis court sub–contractor, answering directly to Cherokee, has tennis court designs and documents and construction consultation by Global Tennis Design of Florida, putatively the country’s best.

But, somehow – on top of the landscape architect and on top of the general contractor and on top of the tennis court sub–contractor and on top of the tennis court designer – Columbia insists it needs a construction manager to bring this job in on time and under budget. The construction manager’s fee is set at 6% of the general contract of a little over $3.5 million, which scores the construction manager’s fee above $200,000. For what? That’s next week in The Columbia Star.