Cost Estimates Up, Lakeville Heritage Center Project Moves Ahead

Lakeville's somewhat controversial project to turn the city's old police station into the Heritage Center, a facility that will house the , Beyond the Yellow Ribbon group, and the , has cleared another hurdle.

At a meeting on Monday, officials updated the City Council on some drastic changes to funding, but the project itself has moved to a new phase of planning and fine-tuning as the seeking of bids is around the corner.

New cost estimates eliminate $250,000 in federal dollars officials expected to receive in the form of grants for the project. Now, the difference needs to be added to the community's $88,000 fundraising goal. Loans from the city's park dedication fund would be necessary otherwise.

This week, Lakeville Patch gave City Administrator Steven Mielke a call to discuss the project in a bit more detail.

Patch: Where, at this point, is the city in the process of the Heritage Center project?

Mielke: The current status is that we are preparing plans and specifications for bidding.

Patch: Do you have any projected timeline for when construction and renovations will begin?

Mielke: We would hope to award bids at the end of March and complete construction in September.

Patch: What was the estimated cost?

Mielke: Estimated cost was $1.12 million dollars.

Patch: Now, you said that you’re currently in the process of beginning to look for potential construction firms?

Mielke: We’re doing what’s called a construction-manager approach, which means that rather than a single construction firm, the city will act as the general contractor, and we’ll then, through a construction manager that we hire, administer all of the various bids that we receive.

Patch: So the city is going to be primarily in charge of expediting design and development and there’ll be several different contractors on board for different services?

Mielke: Correct. But maybe I should step back. The council gave the go-ahead to the project the first of last year. And that was based off of a preliminary design and a preliminary cost estimate. We then hired an architect and a construction management firm. They both have been working to refine the plans and to refine the cost estimate. That was taken to the council this Monday with the number that I gave you, and now they will prepare the actual bid packages for bidding after council approval at the second meeting in Febrary.

Patch: What date did you say construction and renovations are projected to start?

Mielke: It would start right after bid approval, which we hope to be right around April 1.

Patch: How do the stakeholders in this project feel at this point?

Mielke: All have indicated support for the design and have had a voice in melding that design into something that provides both individual space for their needs as well as congregate space that they will all utilize.

Patch: So at this point the stakeholders have expressed interest, excitement and approval for the project, in terms of its development so far?

Mielke: That’s a fair statement.

Patch: Thank you so much, Steve.