Features

UC Berkeley has picked four companies to bid on the new Berkeley Art Museum, the structure that is likely to become the most striking and controversial architectural feature of the city center. 

Following a pre-qualification procedure, the university has picked the quartet of builders to submit their bids by 2 p.m. July 22. The bids will be opened two minutes later in the university’s Capital Projects office on the second floor of 1936 University Ave. 

Designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the museum will house both the art museum and the exhibition facilities of the Pacific Film Archive, as well as classrooms, restaurants and a shop at the northwest corner of the intersection of Center and Oxford streets. 

After the pre-qualification process, the university selected as project bidders: 

• DPR Construction, Inc., a national builder with offices in San Francisco; 

• Hathaway Dinwiddie, a builder with headquarters in San Francisco and two other California offices; 

• Skanska, USA, a division of a Swedish firm that carries out projects across the globe; and 

• Webcor, a San Mateo-based firm with offices in Southern California as well.  

The estimated construction cost is $114 million for a building of between 120,000 and 130,000 gross square feet.