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Firm honored for Centralia Station Mellen Street Connector Project

By The Chronicle staff

As construction continues on WinCo Foods at the new Centralia Station shopping center development, the AECOM consulting firm has been awarded the 2025 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Washington’s Silver Award for client or owner expectations for its work at Centralia Station, according to a Port of Centralia news release.

A Fortune 500 engineering consultant firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with a regional office in Seattle, AECOM was the lead designer on the second phase of the Port’s Centralia Station project — the Mellen Street connector project that is now Art Lehmann Avenue.

“AECOM served as the prime consultant and lead designer, working closely with the Port through every stage, from preliminary design to construction management,” ACEC of Washington stated in the release.

Along with building Art Lehmann Avenue, phase two of the Centralia Station project included adding an additional turning lane onto the existing Interstate 5 northbound off-ramp and expanding the Mellen Street Interstate 5 exit intersection.

Construction was carried out by Kent-based contractor Scarsella Brothers.

“This project is a great achievement for the Port of Centralia,” AECOM Project Manager Bryan Huschka said in the release. “The Mellen Street connector project demonstrates the power transportation infrastructure has to positively benefit communities.”

A 24-hour, employee-owned, warehouse-style grocery store chain, WinCo Foods is the anchor tenant at Centralia Station and is expected to open sometime later this year, along with bringing a restaurant to the new shopping center.

WinCo will be in an 84,000-square-foot building on the Centralia Station property north of another 11,000-square-foot retail building for additional businesses and a 2,750-square-foot restaurant building for the restaurant, according to site plans. Chipotle has been announced as the restaurant

Once construction is finished, the new shopping center “is expected to create over 500 jobs and generate $118 million in annual revenue,” the release added.

“AECOM has been an extremely valuable member of the Port’s development team for this project. AECOM’s expertise in project design, construction and navigating the regulatory permit process with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration was instrumental in delivering the award-winning project on time and under budget,” Port of Centralia Executive Director Kyle Heaton said in the release.

Scarsella Brothers’ original bid for stage two submitted in April 2023 was $2,337,681.75, but that figure was adjusted to $2,459,671.68 after two change orders were approved to account for unexpected construction costs and challenges.

The combined total of all the pay estimates approved by the port and made to Scarsella Brothers for their work on stage two was $2,481,796.71.

Stage one’s construction — the Yew Street extension project — was carried out by the Toledo-based contractor Midway Underground.

Midway Underground’s original bid for stage one submitted in August 2022 was $6,116,322.03. Five change orders had been approved for the stage one, raising its expected cost to $7,302,768.67.

The combined total of all the pay estimates approved by the port and made to Midway Underground for their work on stage one was $7,633,251.55.

The Port also made a payment to WSDOT totalling $177,000 for inspection and technical support on Art Lehman Avenue dating back to 2018.

Payments made by the port for both stages one and two and to WSDOT totaled $10,292,048.30.

Read the original article: https://www.chronline.com/stories/firm-honored-for-centralia-station-mellen-street-connector-project,376155? 

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