Fall River council gets Pearl Street garage sale order Nov. 10 as engineers put more Third Street repairs at $2.5 million
The council packet also carries the engineers' Third Street slides ahead of a future presentation: more damaged concrete than planned, the top deck left for a second contract, and work running from April to July 2027.
FALL RIVER Fall River would put the Pearl Street Parking Garage up for public auction or bid under an order Mayor Paul Coogan sent the City Council for its Tuesday, Nov. 10, meeting, the same night a communication on the Third Street garage comes before it, with engineers' slides showing those repairs need a second phase.
The order, filed with the city clerk on Nov. 5 and listed as item 5 of the council's regular 7 p.m. meeting, would declare the garage at 1 Pearl St. surplus and authorize the purchasing agent to "conduct a public surplus auction/bid to aid in the sale" of it, according to the agenda packet. Item 6 is a communication on a future presentation about the Third Street garage renovation.
Councilors raised the question of how much city-owned parking stays downtown on Oct. 27, when the administration presented the case for selling Pearl Street.
The Pearl Street sale
At the council's Oct. 27 Committee on Finance meeting, attorney Matthew J. Thomas told councilors a request for proposals drew one bid, $1,050,000, for a garage assessed at $1,410,800 in fiscal 2026, according to minutes of that meeting that are up for approval Nov. 10. SC360 reported on that presentation.
Thomas said a 2013 lease with one company runs until 2043 and the city has no legal way to end or change it before then, which significantly limits what the garage earns, according to the minutes. A new owner would have the right to end or amend that lease, he said. He put annual revenue for a renovated garage at about $633,573 against debt service of $398,355, and said a private owner who renovated it could bring about $120,000 in tax revenue in the first year.
Councilors asked for more before any vote. Councilor Michael Canuel said the structure should stay under city ownership, Councilor Shawn Cadime asked for a downtown parking study before any sale, and Vice President Michelle Dionne said selling Pearl Street could reduce the city's parking revenue, the minutes say. Council President Cliff Ponte said councilors should get more details before the matter comes to a vote. The committee voted unanimously to refer it to the Committee on Real Estate, Facilities and Housing, with Councilor Joseph Camara absent.
That committee's next meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 5 p.m., lists a resolution tabled Oct. 13 that asks the administration and the director of city operations to present a definitive action plan for repairing both the Pearl Street and Third Street garages.
In a Nov. 5 letter, Purchasing Agent Trevor Coelho cited the city ordinance on surplus property, which says property no longer useful for a municipal purpose "shall be sold or disposed of under such terms and conditions as the City Council shall by order determine." He wrote that he would run the sale with Al Oliveira, director of city operations.
Third Street repairs grow
The Third Street Parking Garage was built in 1970, and its top floor closed in 2017 because of structural concerns, according to an October 2026 presentation by the engineering firm Tighe and Bond that Oliveira sent the mayor on Nov. 4 for the council. The city awarded the repair contract in spring 2026, and work began in July.
The slides say the repair area has grown from 16,000 square feet in the construction documents to 19,700 square feet. Existing wire mesh was in worse condition than expected, and the concrete double tees lacked the dowels they needed except at their ends, the engineers wrote.
To stretch the current contract's budget for structural repairs, the engineers propose dropping noncritical structural items and the final traffic coating from it, then finishing the upper roof deck and the coating under a second contract. Their conceptual estimate, dated Oct. 26, puts that second phase at $2,520,700, including $907,500 for double tee flange repairs, $600,000 for an extra heavy duty traffic coating, a 15% contingency and 10% for engineering during construction.
The proposed schedule closes the first contract in December, bids the second phase in January 2027, awards it in March and has crews working from April to July 2027. City Administrator Ann O'Neil-Souza told councilors Oct. 27 that the city is working with private businesses for parking during the Third Street work, the minutes say.
How to weigh in
The council meets in the Council Chamber at One Government Center. Its 6 p.m. Committee on Finance meeting includes citizen input, and the regular meeting starts at 7 p.m. or when that meeting ends. The City Clerk's office is at 508-324-2220 and city_clerk@fallriverma.gov.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the City of Fall River's own records: the Nov. 10 council agenda and its 111 page packet, which holds the mayor's and purchasing agent's letters, the city operations director's letter and the Tighe and Bond slides, and the Oct. 27 Committee on Finance minutes that are up for approval. We read them on Nov. 6, 2026. The packet is a scan, so we read each figure on the page image as well as in our text copy. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard: we asked the city operations director about the Pearl Street sale terms and the Third Street schedule on Nov. 6 and will add any answer.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (3)
- City of Fall River: City Council meetings agenda, Nov. 10, 2026Clerk stamp Nov. 6, 2026, 12:55 p.m. Priority matters 5 (Pearl Street surplus) and 6 (Third Street presentation); minutes of Oct. 27 meetings listed for approval. Read Nov. 6, 2026.
- City of Fall River: City Council agenda packet, Nov. 10, 2026 (111 pages)Mayor letter and order, Nov. 5 (pages 21 and 22); Purchasing Agent letter, Nov. 5 (page 23); City Operations letter, Nov. 4, and Tighe and Bond slides, October 2026 (pages 26 to 44); Committee on Finance minutes, Oct. 27 (pages 89 to 93). Read Nov. 6, 2026.
- City of Fall River: calendar and Committee on Real Estate, Facilities and Housing agenda, Nov. 17, 2026Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, at 5 p.m., clerk stamp Nov. 5; item 3, resolution on an action plan for repairing the Pearl Street and Third Street garages. Read Nov. 6, 2026.