North Cornwall Township supervisors learned what a new, larger headquarters building might cost when bids for the project were revealed at their April 19 meeting.
Low bids for the four primary contracts to be awarded totaled $2,543,927, according to Josh Weaber of Chrisland Engineering. Weaber told supervisors that the final cost could change if they choose alternate features included in the base bids.
The individual contract low bids are:
- Plumbing (Vision Mechanical, Inc., Shillington) – $132,359
- HVAC (A.H. Moyer, Inc., Myerstown) – $298,950
- Electrical (Shannon A. Smith Inc., Myerstown) – $542,623
- General construction (LA Building Contractors Inc., Phoenixville) – $1,569,995
Supervisor Sam Abram was pleased with the numbers, observing that “we had initially kind of ballparked this building” at between $3.25 million and $3.5 million.
The supervisors have 45 days from April 19 to accept bids and award contracts. In the meantime, township officials will analyze the bids’ details.
The new building will be erected on land the township already owns, south of the existing building on South 18th Street, and adjacent to the township’s recycling facility.
The need for a new building, according to Abram, boils down to running out of space, particularly for the police department. The plan is to convert the existing township building into just a police station.
“It was either build a police station, which is probably 50% more per square foot than a new administrative building,” Abram said, “or build a new administrative building, making the entire [existing building] the police station.”
The project will be financed by a 15-year loan from Scranton-based Peoples Security Bank and Trust Co., according to Abram and township manager Thomas Long. The bank’s Central Pennsylvania Business Center is on Norman Drive in Lebanon.
North Cornwall’s current headquarters started as a small office building constructed in the 1960s, according to Long. A 1994 addition brought it to its present size and configuration.
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