County moves forward with construction of Wellness and Recreation Center – Harlan Enterprise

The Harlan County Fiscal Court has taken a step forward toward the construction of a long-proposed wellness and recreation center, approving the purchase of the Village Center’s former Belk Building to house the facility.
Harlan County Judge Dan Mosley invited representatives from Summit Engineering to advise the magistrate on the details of the project and expected costs.
“Joining us today is Scott Noel, the architect on the project,” Mosley said.
Noel gave an overview of the project.
“We’re looking at the actual Village Mall property and seeing what we can do with the existing building,” Noel said. “We did some quotes in February and found that in today’s market it would be about $180 per square foot. Add in the cost of renovations and the cost is about that.”
Noel said the building already has many amenities built into it.
“There’s plenty of power,” Noel said. “The structure is perfect. The biggest structural change we’re recommending is to raise that section of the roof just to accommodate the height of a basketball court, so the construction costs will be a little higher.”
Noel explained that the remaining funds will go towards renovating the interior of the building to support a health and recreation center.
“Based on the size of this building, the cost of operating a building of this size would be approximately $580,000 to $600,000 per year,” Noel said, “and when you factor in the funding we received and naming rights and things like that, we expect to see an offset of about $180,000. The actual cost to the county should be just over $180,000 to $200,000 per year.”
Noel told the magistrate judge he estimated the total cost of getting the facility up and running would be about $12.7 million.
Mosley said it would currently cost about $25 million to build a new facility from the ground up.
“This is the most viable option right now,” Mosley said.
Judge Paul Browning asked about the cost of repairs to the roof.
“Is there some flexibility in the costs you quote,” Browning asked. “Do you have that price with a specific roof in mind?”
Noel noted that the roof will be steel-framed, and said that equipment will be a priority within budgetary constraints.
“There’s a 5 percent contingency built into the construction budget,” Noel said. “Hopefully we won’t have to use it, but we should at least budget it so we can use it when we need to.”
Judge James Howard questioned the accuracy of past estimates, including one project that ended up costing 15 percent more than expected, which Noel explained came at a time when construction costs are rising sharply.
“The 15 percent are projects when everyone was saying construction costs would never reach $500 a square foot, and we were predicting the mid-$400s. This project is our worst-case scenario,” Noel says. “We had a project two weeks ago in Western Kentucky that was 30 percent below our prediction. We bid on what we thought would be $100 million for a high school project in Cynthiana, and we were awarded $88 million. It was $390 a square foot.”
Noel said construction costs are currently trending downward.
“15% is the highest we’ve ever had and it was a tough time,” Noel said. “Our goal is to make sure we get this budget done.”
After further discussion, Mosley asked that a motion be made to acquire the property.
“The facility was estimated at $2 million. We got the appraisal and it was valued at $2 million,” Mosley said. “Now that the appraisal is back, are we willing to go ahead with the purchase?”
Magistrate Judge Jim Roddy entered a motion to acquire the building and grounds at 188 Village Center Drive, known as the former Belk building and parking lot, from Village Center LLC by general warranty deed for $2 million for the Harlan County Wellness and Recreation Center, pending completion of a title opinion and survey.
Judge Paul Caldwell seconded the motion, and the motion passed without objection.