Rising Construction Costs Force Micah to Reassess Details of Expansion

Faced with cost estimates more than $1 million higher than anticipated, Temple Micah plans to open the building expansion project to competitive bidding to obtain "real-world numbers" that will help determine how to proceed.

"We don't know how much it's really going to cost until it's bid out," said Harry Silver, chairman of the Building Committee. "The kind of estimate we got was very rough," he said. "It was an estimate we received without bidding it out. I think with some actual competition the difference is not going to be as high as they came in with."

Temple President Betsy Broder said the board will seek open bidding from union contractors once the architects finalize the plans. "Consistent with Micah tradition and the plans set out in our fundraising, the expansion will rely on union labor," she said.

One option she mentioned would be to "take the money we have and use it to create usable space" and then seek the additional funds needed to complete the project.

In a project update published in last month's Vine, Broder wrote that the cost estimate for the project is "in excess of $3 million," rather than $2 million as originally planned. A capital campaign received members' pledges for the $2 million earlier this year.

"It is almost certain we will have to raise additional funds to bridge the gap," Broder wrote.

The expansion would provide 11 new classrooms and offices for Rabbi Toby Manewith, cantorial soloist Meryl Weiner and administrator Susie Blumenthal. The kitchen would be relocated and a second library devoted to popular books would be established on the main floor.

Architects Robert Weinstein and Judith Capen designed the existing building as well as the expansion. Weinstein said the initial estimate from UNIWEST, which was the contractor on the existing building, was based on "schematic drawings," not on a detailed plan of the expansion.

"Now the drawings are real," he said. "Now they show what the building is really going to be."

He said UNIWEST went to its subcontractors with the new drawings and came back with a figure of $3.4 million. "We said we do not believe this number. We said go back and talk to your subs." Ten days later, he said, the contractor returned with a figure that was $315,000 lower.

A change in the city building codes required that the expansion include a sprinkler system, which Weinstein said added $300,000 to the cost. He and Silver seconded Broder's statement that the costs of most building materials have escalated dramatically.

Weinstein said the committee was re-examining details of the plan, looking for ways to reduce the cost. One example he cited was replacing movable partitions in the new classrooms to drywall partitions. Movable partitions cost $1,000 a square foot; drywall costs $100 a square foot.

Weinstein said the committee was "trying to maintain the integrity of the design, trying to maintain the quality to match the existing construction but at the same time trying to find ways to reduce the cost." UNIWEST will seek bids from a broader range of subcontractors in November and December.

"We need real-world numbers," Silver said. "Then decisions can be made as to what's in, what's out."

He stressed that the committee would make recommendations, but the temple board of directors would make the final decisions.

[by Don Rothberg; from November 2006 Vine]