Bid approved for fine arts center at LCC
Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:52 AM PDT
By Hope Anderson
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E-mail this articleAfter shaving down its fine arts center even further, Lower Columbia College officials announced Wednesday that the high-profile project finally will proceed.
College officials said they have a $17 million construction contract in the works with Portland-based Howard S. Wright. The contract is expected to be approved in a few weeks and construction to begin by the end of July.
"It's a relief, I tell you," Ellen Peres, LCC's vice president of administrative services, said Wednesday. "I think it will be a good process the rest of the way."
Bids opened earlier this month topped the college's estimated cost for the building, but college officials worked with the contractor to slim down the project by $250,000, Peres said. Small changes were made, such as reducing the cost of building materials and landscaping, that do not affect the "integrity" of the building, she said.
It was the second time the college called for bids and reduced the 54,000-square-foot fine arts building, which will feature a 500-seat auditorium, 120-seat theater and art gallery. In May, bids soared more than $2 million past the college's estimated cost, prompting officials to shrink the building and solicit new bids.
After that round, LCC cut about $2.5 million from the project by scrapping plans for a basement and making other small adjustments.
College officials feared the redesign would delay the center's planned fall 2007 opening, but Peres said the center may reopen before the end of that fall quarter. Eliminating the basement will shorten construction time, she said.
The fine arts center -- which school officials say will be a community centerpiece for the arts -- has been years in the making and is funded entirely by the state.
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