Architects say new McAllen library to cost $9.1 million more than estimated
"The goal is to have somebody walk by and think they didn't turn the Wal-Mart into a library," said Jack Polling, an architect with the firm Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle in Minneapolis.
"The money they budgeted was not enough to meet that level of quality."
The city hired MS&R and McAllen-based Boultinghouse Simpson Architects last year to design the new library on a $14.2 million budget, for which the architects would be paid 8 percent of the construction cost. A cap on their fees was set at $1.2 million, about $600,000 more than 8 percent of the budgeted amount.
Deputy City Manager Brent Branham said Tuesday that city staff was reviewing the architects' estimate of $23.3 million for the project.
"When they signed the contract they knew the total construction project cost," Branham said. "We have not really studied the figures in detail. We're going to be doing that over the next couple weeks."
Polling presented plans during a City Commission workshop Monday that appeared to significantly alter the shape and look of the Wal-Mart store at the intersection of North 23rd Street and Nolana.
He said he hoped to achieve a look similar to a library his firm designed in Denton, where a former mega-supermarket was transformed into a modern glass and steel structure.
Despite the initial shock city commissioners expressed Monday, Mayor Richard Cortez indicated he would not push for the architects to radically scale back their plans.
"At the end of the day you're only building a library once every so-many decades, and we want it to be the right one," the mayor said. "That said, we also want to make sure we're getting value on the money we're spending."
The prospect of a new city library is widely supported by residents, who have long complained that the existing library, a 40,000-square-foot space on Main Street near downtown McAllen, is too small.
In January 2007, city officials purchased the vacant Wal-Mart store, a 128,000-square-foot space on 15 acres of land, for $5 million.
Since awarding the design contract last year, city commissioners anticipated construction would run higher than the amount budgeted by city staff, Cortez said.
"I was shocked, but I can't say that I'm totally surprised," he said. "Everything we thought we could pay ‘x' number of dollars for last year is coming in substantially higher."
Boultinghouse Simpson estimates local construction costs have increased 1 percent per month since May, adding roughly $1.3 million to the job's cost. The cost of construction materials nationwide has steadily increased over the past few years, as high fuel prices push up transportation costs.
Even accounting for inflation, that's still far short of the $9.1 million difference between what city staff budgeted for the project and the architects' estimate.
Polling attributed the disparity to city staff failing to account for the high cost of landscaping the site's 864-space parking lot and transforming the building's exterior.
The new library is tentatively scheduled to open in March 2010. The future of the existing library, situated in the middle of the city's designated arts district, has not been decided, Branham said.
____
James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.
