Fresno City Council Awards $1.6 Million Contract for Downtown Parking Garage Repairs

On December 5, 2024, Fresno City Council awarded a $1,632,100 construction contract to Capital Industrial Restoration Inc., a Rancho Cordova company, for high-priority repairs to Parking Garage 7 at 801 Van Ness Avenue.

The garage, also called the Spiral Garage, has been in service for over 50 years. A 2016 assessment by Walter P. Moore and Associates identified structural issues requiring safety repairs to keep it structurally sound.

The contract covers high-priority items from that assessment, including post-tensioning reinforcement (adding tension cables to strengthen concrete), stairwell repairs, slab spall repairs (fixing deteriorated concrete surfaces), and replacement of loose or broken barriers. The material does not state how much of the $1.6 million is public money versus other funding sources, nor does it identify the total project cost if this contract is only part of it.

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Council also adopted a finding that the project qualifies as a Categorical Exemption under Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) of the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines and authorized the Director of General Services to sign related documents.

The Breakdown

Capital Industrial Restoration Inc. was identified as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder under Bid File #12500449.

The work addresses structural safety issues identified in a 2016 assessment, including reinforcement and barrier repairs.

The garage is located at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Inyo Street in District 3.

The material does not state a timeline for when the work will begin or be completed.

What This Means for You

The City Council’s December 5 vote authorized spending $1.6 million on repairs to a 50-year-old public parking structure downtown. The material does not specify whether this contract represents the full public cost or only part of it, and whether the city considered alternatives to repairing a structure this old.

District 3 voters, whose council member approved this spending, may want to know whether the 2016 assessment that justifies this work has been updated in the eight years since it was completed.

What to Watch

The material identifies Capital Industrial Restoration Inc. as the contractor but provides no background on the company, its track record on public contracts, or how many bids the city received.

The contract amount — $1,632,100 — is stated as fact, but the material does not confirm whether this is entirely taxpayer money or whether other funding sources are involved. It also does not state the total project cost if this contract covers only high-priority items and medium- or low-priority repairs remain.

The justification for this spending is an assessment completed in 2016, eight years before the contract was awarded. The material does not indicate whether the city updated the assessment before committing $1.6 million, or whether it considered demolition and replacement instead of repair.