To start getting more use out of the city-owned Events Center, the Great Bend City Council Monday night approved an over $500,000 renovation to a portion of the long-vacant office complex attached to the back of the venue.
The bids were presented to the council at the May 4 meeting, but the matter was tabled to this week. With their meeting streamed via Facebook, the council unanimously OKed the project.
“I really think this is something Great Bend needs,” Councilman Dana Dawson said. “Yes, it costs a little more than what we anticipated, But, personally, I thing that building has really good bones and will have a lot of good uses in the next 10 to 20 years.”
Ultimately, he said, it will be a big cost savings to the city.
Included in the renovation is 7,000 square feet on the office complex first floor. This leaves 21,000 square feet in the remainder of the building.
This work includes the Great Bend Economic Development Inc. office and secretarial space for GBED President Jessica Milsap, two 75-120 person breakout rooms to use with the center to bring in bigger conventions, and extra space for the Convention and Visitors Bureau (for storage and preparing visitor packets). Both Eco Devo and the CVB are already housed in the center.
The project
City officials starting meeting with an architect last fall to determine the scope of the project, City Inspector Logan Burns said.
The city received three bids for the Events Center remodeling. They were from Harbin Construction of Salina (with a base bid of $539,000), Paul-Wertenberger Construction of Hays (with a base bid of $513,500) and Brentwood Builders of Great Bend (with a base bid of$509,480).
Brentwood Builders gave the low bid and the mechanical and electrical subcontractors being used for the project were Moeder Plumbing, Heating and Air (Great Bend) and Haynes Electric (Larned). Brentwood Builders could start construction on May 18 and finish the project by Oct. 31.
It was Brentwood Builders that received the contract.
Pryor Automatic Fire Sprinkler of Great Bend has given a bid of $33,650 for the remodel of the center to extend the existing sprinkler system into existing office spaces and the new office remodel. The new sprinkler design will allow for future expansion.
This makes the total project cost $543,130. But, there is also $25,000 for contingencies and hardware built into that price, and that may not be needed making the price lower.
The cost
The price breaks down to $78 per square foot, compared to $200 for a new build. The cost to replace the building would be over $5 million.
“We were told that after we approve the bids, we could get with the contractor about some cost savings,” Dawson said. “When will that be?”
“It would have to be almost immediately so that we can move the process forward,” City Administer Kendal Francis said.
City Inspector Logan Burns and Francis said at the last meeting there could be ways to trim the cost of the project through “value engineering.”
The city has appropriated $300,000 from the Events Center Fund. In addition, Great Bend Economic Development set aside $100,000 for their office remodel at the center from the Economic Development Sales Tax Fund, but of that, only $58,548 remains.
So, total money set aside for the project between the city and GBED is $358,548, leaving a shortfall of $184,582. This balance will come from the Economic Development Sales Tax Fund with the option of the Events Center and CVB paying back the fund over the next few years.
But, the council didn’t feel this was necessary.
