Mass. Correctional Project To Bid Soon

CHICOPEE, Boston — The Division of Capital Asset Management will seek bids to expand the MA Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee.

The tentative bid date on a new housing unit on the center’s grounds is scheduled for mid- to-late July.

San Diego-based Kleinfelder SEA is serving as the architect and Daniel O’Connell & Sons, which has two offices in Mass. and one in Conn., is serving as the construction manager on the $9 million, CM managed project.

The size of the new unit and the number of beds have not yet been decided.

Daniel O’Connell & Sons recently issues the structural steel and concrete packages on the project, while the packages for detention equipment and security electronics will be released in mid-June in time for mid the July bidding.

The Division of Capital Asset Management acquired the WCC through a 2001 design-build RFP for modular construction. Part of the RFP was to develop a program and a schematic design for an additional housing unit, which was never built.

The facility, which bid in 2005 and was occupied in 2007, is a 96,000-square-foot, Level 3 facility, consisting of three housing units and a central building housing the administration office, security management, programs, visiting, health services, food services and support services.  

The facility is divided into two structures, with one housing unit separated from the main facility. The new housing unit will be located across from the stand-alone unit, creating a new, semi-enclosed courtyard.