The city is looking to hire a new contractor for its parking garage, but the future of the project remains unclear.

City council Monday night said Thomas Construction of Grove City agreed to keep its bid for general contracting as the city waits to see if the project will come together before its bond issue expires next month.

The city entered into an agreement with Thomas, and two other contractors bidding on electrical and plumbing work, to have them keep their offers on the table until the end of September.

“We’re not awarding any contracts tonight,” said Mayor Tom Donaldson. “But this extends the bid window.”

Thomas was the second lowest bidder on the project with a base bid of $3.975 million. The overall garage project would require about $1 million in other costs and fees.

Uhl Construction, the previous low bidder for general contracting, withdrew its offer last week.

The city is waiting for the developer of the proposed neighboring hotel to move forward with its project before the city moves forward with the garage.

The city has maintained that it can’t commit to the garage until it knows for certain that J.S. Capitol will build the hotel because the hotel will be the primary tenant of the garage.

The city must wait and see if the developer finalizes its deals. If it does, the city will be ready to award the contracts for the about $5 million project.