Council selects Community Center architect
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Monday night councilors selected North Peak Architecture to oversee the next phase of the Community Center project for an amount not to exceed $80,000, plus the reimbursable expenses as noted on the proposal, authorizing City Manager Jim Bennett to sign the necessary documents for such action. North Peak is owned by Mark Carter, the same architect responsible for the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library’s recent expansion.
Councilor Dick Engels said interviews were whittled down to four and held about 10 days ago.
“Three were well-qualified. I didn’t like one for reasons I won’t go into. One was a local person with a concrete idea of the project,” said Engels.
Councilor Peter Hallowell said this followed the theme of “growing Presque Isle from within.”
“All are local. Following the interviews, it was unanimous. He had good ideas to cut down on costs — quite substantial to me, being a tightwad — and still have a nice building,” said Hallowell.
“North Peak did a nice job on the library — on time and under budget,” added Engels.
The cost to complete the Community Center, according to a memo from Bennett to the Council, is expected to be around $11 million.
Bennett noted that Council appointed a task force last spring to review the work that had been done to date on the project.
“They asked the task force to make recommendations, based on their review. The report is available online via the city’s website,” wrote Bennett.
Bennett also discussed how the project would be funded.
“One of the major recommendations contained within the report is the recommendation to limit the financial participation of the city via property taxes to no more than $4 million. The balance of the project (which is expecting to be in the range of $6.8 million) needs to come from other sources. It is anticipated that a large portion of those other funds will come from donations,” continued Bennett.
Bennett said, “The consensus is that a fund-raising effort of that level can be successful without having a more detailed plan for the project.”
The city manager indicated the actual location, building design, including the interior layout and exterior of the building, need to be communicated to the public.
“To accomplish this task, the recommendation is to engage an architect that will be the architect of record for the project. However, the work will be limited to providing the design of the building up to the level just prior to preparation of construction documents,” said Bennett.
In addition, Bennett said they are expected to assist in providing the appropriate material that can be used for the promotion of the project and fund-raising.
“Mark’s price for the immediate work that is contemplated is $68,000 (should all of the work be required). He has also submitted a fixed price for the entire project, including construction oversight, of $548,000. This is in the acceptable parameters that the Committee had recommended,” said Bennett.
Following Bennett’s recommendation, councilors unanimously approved North Peak Architecture for the next phase of the project.
