New London — The renovations of City Hall that were scheduled to start this year are on hold because of an eye-popping bid for the project that exceeds the anticipated project cost by more than $5 million.

The bid opening was held on Jan. 19. The only official bid came from Middletown-based Kronenberger & Sons at $8,018,000. The City Council in 2015 approved borrowing $3 million for the project.

In addition to the $8 million bid, there was also a $5.4 million bid from Chester-based Rudolph Netsch Construction, said Community Development Coordinator Tom Bombria, the manager for the restoration project. But he said that bid was rejected after the company called on the day of the bid opening to add costs that pushed the overall bid to $6.1 million.

It was an obvious disappointment for Bombria, who has spent two years working to develop the bid specifications while trying to coordinate the moving of nearly two dozen City Hall offices. City Hall was expected to be entirely vacated during the yearlong project and a move tentatively was planned for March.

Bombria and Office of Development and Planning Director Tammy Daugherty now simultaneously are completing two tasks: figuring out the reason for the huge discrepancy between the estimates and the bids, and exploring other options to fund the project. Both expect to send the project back out to bid and will look for any cost savings while exploring alternate funding sources and the possibility of phasing.

Phasing the project, in addition to providing more time to find funding, also might relieve the city of costs of swing space for the relocation of city employees and officials.

“We’ll do our due diligence to bring in options for the City Council,” Bombria said.

The original estimate for the project was completed in 2014 and came in at $2.5 million to $2.8 million, based on existing conditions and preliminary recommendations for work.

Along with exterior and interior work to the building with an eye toward historical detail, the bulk of the project was focused on bringing the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and upgrading the mechanical systems. Kronenberger's cost estimate on the mechanicals, electrical and plumbing alone was $2.3 million.

The 2015 estimate, according to Bombria, did not include architectural and engineering fees, hazardous materials testing and abatement or costs associated with phasing or inflation. It also did not take into account an information technology component added later, required prevailing wage rates or costs for payment and performance bonds.

There were also cost increases associated with building and fire code requirements, Connecticut State Library requirements for the city clerk’s office and a host of other discoveries during the detailed work for the bid specifications. The design of the restoration work was completed by New Canaan-based Architectural Preservation Studio.

Bombria said the project had evolved over the two years since the estimate was made and the largest factor in the increase appears to be the market conditions.

“The market is dictating these bids,” he said.

Bombria said a full presentation on what the next step in the process will be is being prepared for the City Council.

g.smith@theday.com