The Village of Great Neck Estates Board of Trustees rejected four bids received last month for the renovation of the village pool facility at 12 Shore Drive during their Monday evening meeting.
Architect Leonard Kurkowski said the village all four bids exceeded the village’s budget.
Kurkowski attributed the higher prices to costly materials for tile work, as well as adding cubbies, additional areas for lifeguards and changing rooms to fill an empty space in the locker room.
“It was demolishing more of the interior as opposed to just refinishing it – this contributed to the cost,” Kurkowski said.
He admitted that he misread the board’s attitude as changes were being made to the project.
“I thought maybe there was flexibility built into the budget I wasn’t aware of, so I kept trying to make the project better, and a number of things were a little more expensive than I anticipated,” Kurkowski said.
According to Kurkowski, tile work is the most expensive item in the entire project, ranging from $130,000 to $140,000. Another item that increased the budget was an added canopy which wasn’t included in the original concept, resulting in an increase of $20,000 to the job.
The original proposed budget, he noted, was between $300,000 to $350,000.
Kurkowski also said given the current state of the economy, he expected 10 to 15 contract seekers and was surprised at the low amount of bidders received for the project.
As the village is in the process of constructing their overall budget, Village of Great Neck Estates Mayor David Fox said he feels the village is approaching the project in the wrong way.
“If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right,” Fox said. “We need a better understanding of this.”
Fox said the evening served as a “preliminary conversation,” and insisted that the village spend more time in doing an in-depth analysis of what needs to be done for the project.
According to Fox, over the next three years, the village’s bond debt will go down from $615,000 a year to $152,000 a year resulting in considerable savings.
“We don’t know what other things are going to come up, but it’s safe to assume that we’ll have a good couple of a hundred thousand dollars that’s going to help us,” Fox said. The village operates at slightly over a $9 million dollar budget.
Trustee Sidney Kurgman said that when the project started, there was no mention of lattice work, which added between $80,000 and $100,000 . Referring to filling the empty space in the locker room, Krugman said the project “got away from us.”
“When we went through this, I eye-balled it, as well as three or four other architects that we interviewed,” Krugman said. “Given the scope we started with, everyone was comfortable with refurbishing and sprucing it up, but it grew on its own momentum.”
Built in the 1940s, the facility last saw renovations in the 1980s to the interior, due to age taking a toll on its look and equipment, Kurkowski said. He said the lockers rooms are still in usable shape and will be ready for the spring, but they will not be renovated by then.
“The objective is to complete the renovation by the spring of 2014,” Kurkowski said. “This project involves changing all the interior finishes and equipment in the locker rooms including some planned revisions to improve the functions. There is also some exterior work at the control area to open it up and to install a canopy over the control desk.”
Optional work that is being considered is to change the trellis materials at the pool deck and add canopies to offer more areas of shade. This work is pending budget revisions, and Kurkowski said he is in the process of making changes to the project. He will return to the board next month for further updates.
