Committee approves expanded owner's representative scope to push Midtown infrastructure to 100% design

The Finance Committee voted to approve an amendment to the city's professional services contract with WSP USA Inc. to expand owner's representative services for Midtown infrastructure.

Carly Vendetti, deputy director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, said the amendment moves WSP's scope from a spine‑infrastructure focus to full 100% design and owner's representation for the Midtown site. Vendetti said the expanded scope will let staff use WSP for detailed grading, utility coordination, procurement documents and industry outreach so the city can complete design, bring the project to bid and accelerate construction readiness.

Vendetti told the committee the Midtown portion of owner representation under the amended contract is budgeted at $1,500,000; she said additional related scopes held in Public Works total roughly another $3.5 million for related engineering services. Vendetti said the change should get Midtown to 100% design by the end of the summer and enable disposition or procurement for parcels such as Aspect Media Village and other private developers tied to the spine infrastructure.

Committee members asked how the expanded owner's‑rep scope supports community benefits, how the work will be budget‑tracked and whether cash commitments will require future amendments. Vendetti said the amendment is paid from capital outlay funds and that the city limited additional services to those the department could not provide in‑house.

The committee approved the amendment by roll call.