Construction Delay
Dear Beth El Community,
Many of you have been asking why our sanctuary renovation hasn’t yet started. The purpose of this letter is to provide a brief overview of where things stand and why. The Oversight Committee has been working so hard to see this process through. We have spent many hours reviewing designs, attending meetings, going over budgets, attending more meetings, communicating with B’nai Mitzvah families, reworking designs, more meetings, scanning drawings, sitting in chairs, looking at wood finishes, interviewing contractors, reviewing bids, and preparing for construction to begin. We have even prepared Zonis Auditorium as a temporary site for our services.
So what happened?
When the actual construction bids came in, they all were more than 50% higher than we expected (based on earlier cost estimates we’d been given) and almost double what we actually have to spend on construction! Despite the incredible job that our Capital Campaign Committee did raising $1.25 million dollars, when we subtract all of the ‘soft’ costs associated with the project, our actual construction budget is significantly reduced. These soft costs include expenditures like architectural fees, costs associated with our fundraising consultants, permitting fees, surveying and hazardous materials testing. Then, we also have to deduct an allowance for potential, uncollected debt (pledges that aren’t fulfilled), loan servicing, and the 15% set aside for contingency (a kind of financial safety net for unanticipated costs that could emerge during construction) as well as the money we need to leave aside for items that are not part of the actual construction – new pews, chairs, the ark and bimah furniture.
Even so, the committee began talking with the contractor that we felt would be best suited for the job and with whom we felt we could work well. This contractor and our architect were willing to work with us to get closer to a construction budget that our congregation could afford. We know that it is often the case in construction that through a combination of fine tuning numbers, cutting some line items, and reductions in the scope of a project, some compromise can be reached and a project can proceed.
In the case of our sanctuary renovation, in partnership with the architect and contractor, the committee began scaling down the project, and cutting out design elements. As various, large elements of the project began to get cut, our spirits and enthusiasm waned. More importantly, many of us no longer felt sure that we had a design that meets our original goals. In addition,
some of the central elements that were being cut due to cost (such as the sloped floor and moving two, large structural columns in order to widen the bimah) are not purely aesthetic design elements; they were included in the plan to improve sight lines. If we couldn’t keep those elements in the renovation, we could potentially make sight lines in the sanctuary worse as a result of this work!
In sum, we are no longer sure that we can achieve our minimum goals with regard to sight lines, lighting, acoustics, warmth, comfort, accessibility and flexibility with the funds that are available to us and with the resulting, reduced design. We will, therefore, be gathering the Board of Trustees at a special meeting to ask for guidance about how to proceed.
The Board could choose to direct the committee, despite our misgivings, to continue with construction according to the reduced design. The Board could direct us to postpone the renovation indefinitely, concluding that it is simply not the right time for us to do this work in the sanctuary. Or, the Board could direct us to postpone the construction temporarily in order to identify additional sources of revenue that would permit us to accomplish our basic goals.
The Oversight Committee is trying to be responsible to our congregation and do the right thing—both fiscally and in terms of the sanctuary renovation. So many of us have committed so much time, energy, and money to this project that we want to be sure that we get it right. We are as disappointed as anyone that we are so far from the schedule that we planned. But we also wanted everyone to understand why this is the case.
We are working with the architect to create a design that fits a budget which could be considered realistic for our congregation and still fulfills our basic priorities for the renovation. He is working towards that goal, and the committee is working with him.
The Board of Trustees will continue to advise the Oversight Committee on the best way for our community to proceed. To that end, there will be a special meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday, August 28th at 7:30pm, during which, these issues will be discussed. As with any meeting of the Board of Trustees, Temple members are welcome to attend. Going forward, we anticipate that this issue will be discussed further at the regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting in September, and shortly thereafter, we will have a more definite plan to move ahead (or not). A Temple-wide meeting also will be held sometime in September. In the meantime, we will still be able to use our sanctuary and Zonis as usual.
Please note that while it’s clear the sanctuary renovation will not begin before the High Holy Days and our services now will be held in the sanctuary, we still will be following the schedule for double High Holy Day services as planned. A separate communication explaining this decision will follow.
We thank you for your patience and understanding. With your continued support and help, we believe we still can fulfill our dreams for this holy place.
Elyse Shuster & Mike Wolfson
On behalf of the Renovation Oversight Committee
