The downtown parking saga continues. Gary Reddick, the architect of Minot’s beleaguered parking structures and the more broad Imagine Minot downtown concept, has been released by Cypress Development, the primary developer of the projects.
Mr. Reddick’s contract with Cypress was terminated just as another contract between the Portland-based architect and the City of Minot was getting started. Under a separate agreement, Mr. Reddick was hired by the City of Minot to provide plans and drawings to complete the building exteriors — a portion of the build not included in the original bid package. But as talks with Cypress progressed to the next step of developing a roof system for each building, Mr. Reddick was informed by the developer that his services were no longer required.
Last week, I reached out to Mr. Reddick to get his comment on the situation. Here’s what he shared.
A month and a half ago, the principals at Cypress discontinued our relationship on all of our Minot projects. Prior to that, while we were still under contract with Cypress, we were hired by the City in collaboration with EAPC Architects to develop concepts for cladding the exterior of the garages. I have expressed to the Mayor and Lance [Meyer, City Engineer] and others that I have a long-term commitment to Minot, so I’m looking at this as a pause. I’m not sure when and where and under what circumstance that I’ll be back to work on downtown, but it will be sometime.
— Gary Reddick, V3 Studios
On the status of sealing the roof portion of the structures, Mr. Reddick added the following:
That conversation had just started when they [Cypress] determined that they preferred to separate ways with us. We were probably the right ones for them to be talking to in that we were doing the siding, and that comes together at the roof terrapin — the most critical juncture in that whole assembly, but then we were unplugged. At that point we continued on with the exterior and had no involvement in the roof.
— Gary Reddick, V3 Studios
The termination of Mr. Reddick’s services removes one of the few consistent players who has been associated with the project from the beginning. So, I also reached out to Dominic O’Dierno of Cypress Development to get a status update and find out who would be providing architectural services for the project moving forward.
On the status of the project related to the City’s requirement that Cypress finish the roof before permitting and beginning work on the commercial space, Mr. O’Dierno shared the following:
We’re going to be getting with the City to discuss what exactly that means. It’s up a little bit for interpretation. We’ve engaged an architecture firm, they [the City] want us to propose a solution to the roofs since they’re [the roofs] going to be temporary. And we need to go through an architect, you know, to conform to code. So, we’re working on that and hope to have something finalized before the end of the year.
In regards to the termination of Mr. Reddick and the new firm providing architecture services for Cypress, Mr. O’Dierno added this:
I don’t want to get into that too much other than to say we’ve identified a local architect — midwest — that we are going to be working with going forward. And, I really shouldn’t comment any further on that … We reached out to a local firm in Minot, but I think that probably we’ll be working with a firm out of Minneapolis.
I did press Mr. O’Dierno further to provide the name of the architect they’ve hired but lacking permission from that firm; he was unwilling to provide a name that made independent confirmation possible. This article will be updated if that information is made available.
This past Friday, Minot’s City Council acted to approve bids for cladding the exterior side surfaces of the downtown structures. Total cost for completing the work will cost approximately $573,000 and is expected to be complete by next spring or early summer. You can listen to the City Council discussion on that issue below.
