As Fall Town Meeting draws near, the Council on Aging and the Permanent Building Committee are working furiously to complete a cost estimate for the work it will take to transform the building at 16 Lancaster County Road into the town’s new senior center. Voters will be asked to approve funding for purchasing and renovating the property at the Oct. 16 meeting and again at the ballot box Nov. 2. The final amount of the request will not be known until next week.
The asking price for the property is $1.425 million. Architect DiGiorgio Associates (DAI) submitted a construction cost estimate for the renovation of $1.46 million on Sept. 30, bringing the total to just under $3 million. But that number did not include architectural and engineering fees or other “soft costs,” costs not associated with construction.
Members of the Permanent Building Committee worked with DAI over the following days to bring the construction costs down, and when it met on Oct. 6, the new number was lower, just over $1.3 million, including architectural and engineering fees.
The total renovation cost is still a moving target though. Chair Cindy Russo said the town would likely want to include an owner’s contingency. Moving costs are not yet included, and other soft costs may need to be added.
The committee is questioning the $325,000 cost of the HVAC system included in the estimate. Architect Christopher Luchetti told the committee the heat pump system that was quoted is “not the cheapest, but it’s economical and energy sensitive.” He added that the system would provide more zones, which would allow individualized controls. Both Russo and member Pablo Carbonell pushed back on the desirability of that type of system, saying that more complex systems require more maintenance, and they are only more energy efficient if operated in an optimal way.
The committee asked DAI to provide cost and energy efficiency numbers for alternatives by its next meeting, Oct. 13. Russo said the committee will also have a final number for renovations by the end of that meeting.
