Professional Practice
RFQ: Morgan Square Renovation & Design Enhancements
Date: 8/8/2022 - 9/2/2022
Location(s): South Carolina
Description:
The City of Spartanburg (“City”) is soliciting statements of qualifications from experienced consultants (“Consultant”) to undertake a design update for Morgan Square as described in this Request for Proposals (“RFQ”). The RFQ response (“Qualifications”) should demonstrate the consultant’s capacity to deliver landscape architectural services as set forth in the Scope of Services (“Services”) of this RFP. Consultant should submit sufficient information to allow the City to select one or more Consultant to provide the Services on a non-exclusive basis and to accomplish the Morgan Square redesign within approximately twelve (12) months. The selected Consultant will be expected to enter into a Professional Services Agreement consistent with the terms of this RFP and in a form similar to that set forth as Attachment A.
The City is looking for expertise in providing landscape architectural services for urban public spaces to design renovations and design enhancements to its primary public space for downtown to better serve the community.
The current space is generally bound by Main Street, Church Street, Dunbar Street, and Magnolia Street but also extents to the building edges and their sidewalk spaces around its perimeter. Since the last transformation of Morgan Square in 2006, various deficiencies in the layout and design of the plaza have become apparent, including barriers to visibility and access, site circulation, overplanting, and limited flexibility in the use of the space. To ensure that Morgan Square remains central to the life of the community and especially the downtown, the City is interested in pursuing a re-visioning and redesign of the space.
An important part of this design process will be the careful inclusion of Main Street and Dunbar Street as a part of the space. Dunbar is periodically closed to accommodate back of house staging for special events. The current portion of Main Street was fully closed during the pandemic to provide outdoor seating opportunities. There is general consensus that this section can remain closed if it is beneficial for the overall design. However, it is important to consider a range of alternatives that permit circulation and avoid the fate of “pedestrian malls” in previous generations.
The purpose of this project is to provide the necessary design documentation in support of construction of proposed improvements to the plaza and its immediate surroundings. As an important part of the design process, the City requires meaningful community participation in the re-visioning and redesign of Morgan Square, and that the consulting team incorporate opportunities for citizen participation in partnership with City staff.
Qualifications in electronic format must be submitted through the https://www.cityofspartanburg.org/bid-
opportunities portal. Submissions cannot exceed 50 MB and must be completed no later than 3 pm on Friday,
September 2, 2022 after which the portal will close and will not be reopened.