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“The district, art teacher and members of the community will gather in the next couple of weeks to come up with the best way to fundraise for the PAC,” Visual and Performing Arts Instructional Supervisor Michael Najar said on Tuesday.
It was a surprise that the final cost of the submitted plan, which the Theater Subcommittee and a district architect had been working on for a year, was over budget, according to Najar, who is a member of the Theater Subcommittee and Paly’s Facilities Steering Committee.
“We were hoping for the best outcome or cost even though the scope of the project was large,” Najar said.
The subcommittee and architect’s original schematics resulted in a 38,653-square-foot design that cost $28.7 million. This was $10.98 million higher than the original $17.72 million approved budget for the 15,000-square-foot center developed last spring. In June, the Board of Education approved the Facilities Steering Committee’s request for a project budget of $22.4 million after the committee proposed a new conceptual design of the building that pushed its square footage to 29,000.
However, the high cost estimate shocked everyone and required the PAC schematic design presentation to the Board of Education on Oct. 26 to be pulled from the agenda until further reductions.
Project manager and Vice President of O’Connor Construction Management, Inc. Tom Hodges, Sr., the architects hired by the district and the committees looked for potential reductions and came up with a second design. Unfortunately, this proposal was still $8.88 million over the original budget, as its cost estimate totaled $26.6 million.
This brought district architect Erwin Lee, principal of Deems Lewis McKinley Architecture, back to the drawing board.
“Right now, further budget reductions are being explored to bring the budget back down closer to $22.4 million,” Hodges said on Tuesday, Nov. 16.
On Thursday, Nov. 18, the Theater Subcommittee reviewed Lee’s new proposal of $23.8 million. This is the latest budget estimate that the Facilities Steering Committee will review next week.
[[nid:25462]]But, according to Najar, the ideal design plan proposed by the Theater Subcommittee has no extraneous areas left to take out, as it addresses all the areas that the PAC needs to address. By removing 25 percent of the building, the center will not be able to serve the same purpose anymore, he said.
“If you took away too much of the building, you wouldn’t have a useful building,” Najar said.
Najar contrasted the construction of the PAC with a basketball court. While a basketball court could simply be built to function for basketball players, the center must do more than satisfy theater users.
“It’s one thing just to make a theater, it’s another just to make a concert hall, and still another to make a good a capella performing hall and a good lecture hall,” Najar said. “If you’re going to do all of those, you better do it right.”
In the past couple of weeks, the architect and constructors have created four different schematic designs whose estimated costs range from $17 million to $28 million. According to Najar, the committees will be shooting for the middle two plans; however, if it is possible to raise enough funds, the ideal plan of $28 million dollars will be pursued.
As of now, future plans for the funding of the center are muddled because it is tied to a $3 million state Career Technical Education grant, which is in bureaucratic limbo.
The CTE Facilities Program provides funds for reconstruction of career technical facilities at high schools. This year, $93.6 million could be awarded to qualifying schools. Paly submitted applications for two projects, the PAC and the Media Arts Building, according to Principal Phil Winston.
The CTE Facilities Program approved the performing arts center proposal over the summer in its third funding cycle. However, because of the state of California’s budgetary issues, presently no funds are available to fulfill the grants. Therefore, Paly has an unfunded reservation of funds, according to Bob Golton, co-chief business official and bond manager.
[[nid:25463]]According to Najar, no one knows when the actual grant will be given. Additionally, within a year of receiving the grant, the school must receive approval from the state to begin construction, which is not an easy process, he said.
The budget for the center will also fluctuate depending on different bids from contractors.
Najar said that the district, art teachers and members of the community may have to fundraise for the expenses themselves, like what other schools have done before.
The various facility committees are working to make the most out of the budget, while ensuring that Paly receives the best facility possible.
“We hope we get a ‘no-apologies’ building,” Najar said. “One that the users have envisioned.”
The Facilities Steering Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 8 to discuss the financial target for the Performing Arts Center, as well as the best ways to reach that target.