On Tuesday, April 17, the City Council will consider amending an existing contract with a consulting engineer, WJE, to perform a small amount of additional analysis to verify that their already competed plans for rehabilitation of the Riggers Loft can be adapted so the building can serve as an essential services structure. If this is confirmed, it means that the Port’s ill-conceived plan to turn the poorly configured and obsolete Terminal 3 Control Tower into a Security and Operations Center at a cost of nearly $1,000 per square foot can be abandoned, and the Security and Operations Center can be located in a rehabilitated Riggers Loft.

Click on the hyperlink below for the entire agenda packet.

K-2 AUTHORIZE a contract amendment with Wiss, Janney, Elsner Associates, Inc. (WJE) to provide additional structural and geotechnical evaluation to verify use of the Riggers Loft as an essential services facility to accommodate the Port Security and Operations Center - Councilmember Butt (236-7435).

Click here for an updated report on the Security and Operations Center and click here for a report on the Port of Richmond.

At this time, all we are asking is for the Port to temporarily suspend its headlong plunge to award an over budget contract and to support the small amount of additional structural evaluation required to confirm the suitability of the Riggers Loft as an essential services structure.

If you think this is a good idea, contact your City Council members by cutting and pasting the address citycouncil@intres.com or simple clicking an “reply to all” and sending your response.

If the suitability is verified, the Security and Operations Center should be moved to the Riggers Loft because it is a more effective use of funds and it will result in achieving multiple objectives.

This project has been particularly frustrating to me because of the Port’s obstinacy  and lack of circumspection. The fact is that the Port lacks the credibility to be trusted with decisions like this. The Port has been and continues to be mismanaged and is incapable of making informed decisions. See “Is the Port of Richmond Underwater?” and “Port Security and Operations Center.”

Here is a brief synopsis:

In 2009, the Port of Richmond obtained a grant for $3,787,889 to construct an Operations and Security Center, described as follows:

Operations and Security Center ($2,537,889): The Operations and Security Center would provide a location in which to monitor and respond to any type of incident in the Port Area and not only would serve as the Port EOC, but could be used as part of the region wide resiliency plan. It also will provide the location to bring in all the data feeds being developed as part of the Port of Richmond security build out. This project mitigates some of the gap in MDA situational awareness.[1]

The Port’s plan was to implement the Operations and Security Center project by designing and constructing alterations and additions to the existing 3,370 square foot former control tower built in 1978 as part of the now obsolete container port facility.

The project suffered from program equivocation, a questionable concept and poor management. Bids were received twice, once in December 2011 and again in February 2012. Both low bids were over budget.

The current plan of Port administration is to enter into a contract with the most recent low bidder, redesign the project by removing all of the additions, and negotiate cost reductions of $800,000 to be implemented by change order. Even with the projected reduced price, the construction cost will be nearly $1,000 per square foot, an astronomical amount for such a modest building. The reason is that the existing control tower is poorly suited for any kind of use. It has a small and inefficient footprint and is three stories high. It will require new pile foundations, seismic strengthening, a three-story elevator tower, a new three-story stairway, and all new electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. It would be cheaper to tear it down and build a new building.


An attractive alternative would be to move the Operations and Security Center to the Riggers Loft building across the Santa Fe Channel in the Point Potrero Marine Terminal ((PPMT). Plans for rehabilitation of the Riggers Loft have recently been completed and are ready to go to bid. The building has 26,000 square feet but needs only a fraction of that for the Operations and Security Center. The rest of the space can be leased out to create revenue for the Port, possibly as much as $250,000 a year.

Although the Riggers Loft rehabilitation design meets current building codes, the design may have to be upgraded slightly seismically to qualify as an essential services facility. Some geotechnical work may also have to be performed on the south side to mitigate a possible potential failure of the PPMT north seawall. This analytical work should be performed as soon as possible to confirm that the Riggers Loft can function as an essential services facility.

The Port of Richmond obstinately continues to pursue its ill-conceived and mismanaged plan to turn the poorly configured and obsolete Terminal 3 Control Tower into a Security and Operations Center at a cost of nearly $1,000 per square foot.

At this time, all we are asking is for the Port to temporarily suspend its headlong plunge to award an over budget contract and to support the small amount of additional structural evaluation required to confirm the suitability of the Riggers Loft as an essential services structure.

If the suitability is verified, the Security and Operations Center should be moved to the Riggers Loft because it is a more effective use of funds and it will result in achieving multiple objectives.