Building Project

It’s been a long process with a lot of challenges, and many people have wondered if it would ever happen. But we have reached a major milestone and completed the final plans and submitted them to the City of Burbank for review. On Sunday evening, June 17^th at an evening service a summary of the events that have led to this moment was provided, and the presentation included the following;

We can’t just keep the Children’s Building and the MSA as they are

We received a letter from the City in 2000 that required us to either seismically retrofit or demolish the Children’s Building. The Elders considered the alternatives and realized that if we did choose to seismically retrofit the Children’s Building we would also be required to make a lot of other improvements, including removal of all asbestos, meeting current code requirements for handicapped access, most likely replace the existing heating and air conditioning systems, and a host of other improvements. We realized that these improvements could be physically impossible to accomplish, and certainly be very costly and reduce the amount of existing classroom floor space.

We also realized that the MSA was in a similar situation, and that the second floor wasn’t handicapped accessible, and that the kitchen would need to be replaced. These are major improvements that would need to be done if we didn’t replace the Children’s Building and MSA with a new building.

Therefore, we didn’t have the option of doing nothing and just keeping the Children’s Building and MSA as they currently are. If we did not build the new building we would have to do major improvements to both the Children’s Building and MSA which could be very costly and perhaps not even physically feasible. If it wasn’t financially or physically feasible to make the required improvements to the Children’s Building we would be left with no choice but to demolish the building.

The Original Project

During the summer of 2003 we contracted with F&A Architects in Glendale to study our Church Campus and decide what alternatives we had to replace the existing Children’s Building and the MSA. The architects proposed a two-phased project, and the first phase was smaller than the combined floor area of the Children’s Building and the MSA and was estimated to cost approximately $3.4 million. This proposal was presented to the elders at the Board meeting on December 16, 2003 and the elders agreed to proceed with the original project subject to raising $1 million before signing a contract with an architect to design the new building for the first phase.

Everyone has remembered the original cost estimate of $3.4 million, but it’s important to remind ourselves that construction costs have increased dramatically since December 2003. Gasoline was $1.57 per gallon in December of 2003, and now it’s over $3 per gallon, and the same is true of the cost estimate for the original building. Not only have the cost of construction materials more than doubled, but the City would have added additional requirements during the discretionary proceedings, and the cost of the original project would have most likely doubled during the last four years. However, if we just assume an additional $500,000 for the City’s requirements, and a 50% increase, the cost of the original building would be over $5.8 million today, and it still would only be the first phase, and not large enough to replace the total floor area in the Children’s Building and the MSA.

Proposed Project

We raised the $1 million and contracted with the Building God’s Way team on October 16, 2005 and began the process of designing the proposed project. Our plan to replace the existing Children’s Building and the MSA was shared with the City in the spring of 2006, and we learned that the City would require discretionary approval which would add specific design criteria and incorporation of numerous upgrades that hadn’t been planned for. Therefore, we decided to consolidate our efforts into one building that would meet all of our needs.

The new building was designed with a new architectural look that complied with the City’s criteria, and was initially about 42,000 square feet in size when it was submitted to the City for consideration on May 19, 2006. The City departments reviewed the project and it was then systematically reduced in size to about 38,000 square feet to accommodate the City’s requirements for access and other issues, and was approved by the City on October 9, 2006.

The proposed project isn’t as big as we originally planned for, but it is the maximum size structure that we can fit between the sanctuary, the Pickwick property, Main Street, and the Children’s Building, and it is larger that the Children’s Building and the MSA which it will replace.

We originally wanted to increase the floor space in all ministry area by at least 50%, but in most ministry areas we fell short of providing that much additional floor space. Some ministry areas will be no larger than they currently are, but they will be new with modern amenities, and able to accommodate the same number of people or more than the current facilities will.

The Benefits

The project will not only consist of a new building to replace the existing Children’s Building and the MSA, but will provide the following additional benefits. The new building will provide modern safe facilities for the children, young people, and adults, and will last us for many decades. There will be a new kitchen and all new kitchen equipment. The new building will be connected to the sanctuary and have a common foyer with the sanctuary. The Church campus will be visible from Main Street, and pedestrians and vehicles will have a clear unobstructed view of the Church facilities. There will be 10 plus additional parking spaces on the Church campus.

Estimated Cost

The anticipated cost of the new building may be as much as $9 million when the City fees for plan check and building permits, and the cost of all off-site improvements are included. The elders discussed this at the Board meeting on May 24^th and following a lengthy period of questions and answers each elder was asked if they supported the current proposal and the anticipated cost, and there was unanimous agreement.

What We Have Learned

This is more than we anticipated when the project was first introduced to the Board of Elders on December 16, 2003. But as we’ve learned the project has continued to evolve over the last four years.

We’ve learned that to keep the existing Children’s Building and MSA would require extensive seismic retrofitting and upgrades, and this would cost well over $1 million dollars. We also learned that it might not be physically possible to make all of the required improvements and we might be left with no choice but to demolish the Children’s Building. We have also learned that even the first phase of the original project was smaller than the Children’s Building and the MSA combined, and would have cost almost double the original estimate today. We also learned that the City would require discretionary approval and we would only be able to build one single new building.

We’ve learned that the proposed project is a consolidation of the original first and second-phases into one building which is larger than the Children’s Building and the MSA combined. We’ve also learned during the City approval process that there won’t be another opportunity to replace the

existing Children’s Building or the MSA with a new building, and that the entitlements granted last year will expire this fall on October 9^th. So we could end up with nothing if we don’t pursue the new building, because we think we can keep the existing Children’s Building as it is. The Children’s Building can’t be kept as it currently exists, because later when we discover that it’s either cost prohibitive or physically impossible to upgrade the Children’s Building to meet City standards, and then we’re required to demolish it. The cost is higher than we all expected. But the cost of the first phase of the original project is over $5.8 million today, and instead of the original two-phased project, we’re going to build one building that is much larger, and with a multitude of benefits.

How Are We Going To Pay For It?

We currently have approximately $2.5 million and if giving stays about the same as it is we expect to receive approximately $1 million additional dollars by the time the building is completed. This would leave a balance of about $5 million when the project is completed, and if our giving remains the same, and we just continue to receive small gifts each month, we’ll still be able to pay off any balance within 5 to 10 years.

The prospect of a $5 million debt might sound terrible, but remember how scary it was when you bought your first car, or your first house, and you wondered if you would ever be able to actually pay for it. The years pass, and the cost of cars and houses continues to increase, and then you realize how glad you are that you didn’t wait any longer.