Public Safety Building complex estimates $1 million over, again
By Kevin J. MacLean

Three weeks after the public safety building committee sent a revised schematic to a cost estimator, the numbers came in more than $1 million higher than they expected.

The committee met Wednesday, Aug. 9, with the project architect Curtis Edgin, to review the construction cost summary submitted by AM Fogarty & Assoc., Inc., of Hingham.

"The difference in this report [compared to one submitted for the first committee] is night and day," said Chris Gagnon, the committee chairman.

Edgin told the group the longer they wait to make a decision about which way to go, the higher the price is going to get.

"A year ago, this would have been 10 percent less," Edgin said.

The volunteer committee is made up of: Gagnon, Charles Packard, Jason Bergeron, Jeff Brooks, Larry Barrett, Phil Esposito, Mary Neal, Gail Dumont, Al Rickheit and Lincoln Stiles. Gagnon is a non-voting member.

The revised proposed construction cost for the 21,383-square-foot building came in at $5,803,686, or $271.42 a square-foot.

The committee was hoping the estimate came in between $4.3 and $4.7 million. There is $5.3 million remaining in the budget for the project. The original project estimate in 2004 was for $6.5 million, funded by a $5 million town meeting bond authorization and a $1.5 million donation from Cushing Academy.

Besides construction costs, there are still what is considered soft costs to come out of the allotted funds. This includes furnishings, equipment, etc.

To date, approximately $1.2 million has been spent on site work on the donated land, architect and engineering fees.

The original building priced-out in February 2005 was for a 30,459-square-foot building, at a price of $275 per square-feet. Because of costs, the building size was soon cut to 26,000-square-feet, with quite a few compromises and a price of $260.38 per square-feet.

"Can I pull $1 million out of my hat," Edgin asked the committee? "No. Something has to give."

He explained that Gagnon had thought if the second committee used metal in the building, instead of masonry products, there would be a substantial savings. That did not prove to be the case, however.

Gagnon tried to steer the committee to consider the FW Lombard land offered to the town for $500,000. The company has offered 42 acres on South Pleasant Street, which has a 80x80 building on it.

Still on the table is the Ashburnham Hardware store properties, consisting of 2.1-acres of land, the hardware store building, the white, two-story apartment building adjacent to it and the white, ranch-style business, currently the home of Spartan Video. The owners are asking $2.8 million for the package.

According to the hardware store owners, if the town did buy the store properties, the $2.5 million left in the budget would pay for building the apparatus bays [estimated at $800,000], the cells, processing area and elevator for the police department [estimated at $500,000] and leave $1.2 million for interior renovations.

The committee decided to hire an appraiser to see what the value of the hardware store property is and at the same time, have Edgin see what kind of building can be built with the remaining funds.

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Kevin J. MacLean can be reached at (978) 827-3386, ext. 14, or e-mail: cjeditor@ aol.com