The city is looking to move forward with a new contractor for its proposed parking garage, but remains uncertain on the future of the project.

City council Monday night said Thomas Construction of Grove City agreed to keep its bid for the general contracting duties on the table 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.”

Donaldson said he and other city leaders met with representatives from Thomas and had positive discussions.

“They seem genuinely interested in working with us,” he said.

Thomas was the second-lowest bidder on the project with a base bid of $3.975 million, although it had an alternate pre-cast design for $3.88 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. Uhl’s base bid was for $3.63 million.

The city missed its 60-day deadline to award contracts on the garage so contractors are able to withdraw offers without sacrificing their bid bonds.

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 redevelopment authority last week agreed to a new partnership agreement with J.S. Capitol on the 76-room hotel, but the developer must still finalize that deal and close on three loans with its banks.

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 — guaranteeing to pay for at least 50 spaces each night.

Solicitor Jim Coulter said the city should not award any contracts on its garage until the developer finalizes its deal to buy the land for the hotel, which is part of the partnership agreement, and closes on its bank loans, including a $3.4 million construction loan through NexTier Bank.

“We can’t commit the taxpayers of Butler to a $5 million garage (without that),” Coulter said.

However, the city has a deadline of Sept. 14 to award contracts for the garage and to sell its bonds to fund the work before its PNC Bank bond issue expires.

“At that point this project is dead,” Donaldson said.

The city redevelopment authority at its meeting last week estimated it may take three weeks for the developer to close on its deals.

Coulter said different sources from the developer and the bank have indicated that may not happen.

“I hope I’m wrong about that,” he said, adding it is possible for the paperwork to be finalized in time.

If the developer finalizes its deals, the city will be ready to award contracts for the about $5 million project.

Donaldson said if the garage falls through, the city will seek a bond issue of about $3 million to refinance the parking authority’s debt, automate the tier garage and pay for a bridge replacement project.

Meanwhile J.S. Capitol, in the scenario, would have to buy the neighboring lot for its own parking in order to build the hotel since city code requires a certain number of parking spaces for the structure.

The garage and the Marriott Springhill Suites hotel would join the new Rite Aid as part of the Centre City project. The three buildings would sit in the block surrounded by South Main, East Jefferson, East Cunningham and South McKean streets.

The city authorized itself to spend up to $7 million through a bond issue for the garage. However, the city budgeted about $1.8 million of that bond to pay off the parking authority’s existing debt. It also will spend $311,000 on the West New Castle bridge replacement project, which is under construction.