Roger Scott tennis court renovation: 12 of 18 courts will be rehabbed – Pensacola News Journal

Plans to rehabilitate the hard tennis courts at Pensacola’s Roger Scott Tennis Center appear to be back on track after city officials re-evaluated how to build the project.
Last month, the long-awaited rehabilitation of 18 courts was put on hold after the lowest bid for the project came in at $4.5 million — $2.3 million over the city’s approved budget.
Now, city officials are seeking bids to rehab only 12 of the 18 courts using asphalt as the base.
The original proposal sought to rebuild all 18 of the courts with a concrete base instead of asphalt because concrete courts, while more expensive, last longer than asphalt courts.
Rehabilitation of the remaining six courts will still be an optional add-on to the contract.
“We could award the other six, but the main focus will be to get those 12 reconstructed,” Amy Tootle, director of Public Works, said to the council on Monday.
Deputy City Administrator David Forte told the City Council that after a comprehensive analysis of different options of concrete, asphalt and clay, staff determined that the better option was the asphalt base courts. 
The asphalt courts will require periodic resurfacing, but Deputy Director for Public Works James Cook told the council that their analysis found that over a 30-year period, asphalt was still more cost effective than concrete despite the need to be resurfaced.
Tennis disrepair: Roger Scott tennis courts nearing dangerous levels of disrepair as Pensacola scrambles for $2.3 million
“We get that immediate cost savings upfront so that we can do a little more with the money that we have,” Cook said.
The current courts at Roger Scott are asphalt-based, but the city failed to keep up with the required maintenance.
Forte said if the city moves forward with the asphalt plan, it will budget maintenance into the city’s local option sales tax plan.
Brock Sakey, a tennis director at the Roger Scott Tennis Center and an owner of Gulf Coast Tennis Group, which manages the tennis center, told the City Council on Monday they fully support the asphalt option.
“You’re not going to see a major difference in play,” Sakey said.
Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson said reducing the project to 12 courts and changing to asphalt would saving close to $1 million, giving the project a good chance of coming in closer to the approved budget.
“I think there’s a position that we feel there are more providers of the asphalt courts, and we think we should be able to get something roughly that would be (closer to the budget),” Robinson said.
Once bids are received, the contract will come back to City Council for approval.
Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

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