We have now been working formally on the Fellowship Hall project for just over a year. The aggressive schedule we started with has slipped a little, but we have made good progress. Last Sunday the Building Engagement Task Force (BETF) shared several bits of good news.
The big headline is that we have been able to bring the cost of building the down from the initial $4.9M estimate that shocked us all last month. We are now projecting the cost of the Fellowship Hall, including entry lobby, some rear sanctuary reconstruction, and parking lot revision to the neighborhood of $3.3M. The shared a handout that shows the list of value engineering decisions we made to get us to this affordable number. You can see it here
One of those decisions is separating the Bowman Hall renovations from the Fellowship/lobby construction. Since the beginning of this project, building a new Fellowship Hall and Lobby has been the main goal. It is now pretty clear that our currently available funds will allow us to reach that goal. We still consider Bowman renovations for ADA access and security to be part of the project if funds become available. We are working to get new estimates for what two different versions of that renovation would cost.
The second piece of good news is that we recently were notified that we were awarded the full value of the federally funded Safety and Security grant that Sherrod Beale and Peter Tregillis authored. That totals to $195,900. The BETF is working to discern how that will impact the overall budget, but it will definitely be favorable.
The third piece of news is that on November 15 we will have a Town Hall at which Elizabeth will present a full set of plans we know you have been waiting to see. She will share new elevations and internal views that include all the changes we have made from the original starting template. We’ll have time then to discuss those plans in detail. During the following weeks we will schedule opportunities for small group gatherings to get the community’s reactions and feedback. On December 13 we plan a Congregational meeting to vote to authorize proceeding with the design development phase targeting a final Guaranteed Maximum Price of $3.3M before authorizing construction to start sometime in the Spring.
We know these are only headlines and that there are likely to be lots of questions. In addition to the big meetings on November 15 and December 13th, we offer the following ways for you to raise questions and get answers. First, we invite you to join the first ½ hour of the BETF Friday meeting at 2:30 for an open house opportunity, either in person or by zoom for additional Q&A. Second, we will have a BETF table open during reception time every Sunday for Q&A and dialog. Come talk to us.
The Task Force is excited to share this good news. We remain hopeful and optimistic…The light at the end of the tunnel does not resemble like a train.