WILMINGTON — Two major county projects remain on budget (and schedule) according to County Manager Chris Coudriet.
Planning for construction projects depends on any number of factors from weather to the prices of raw material, which is why it is often difficult to properly budget for a major construction project. The City of Wilmington’s River Place development, for example, saw a price increase of $7.6 million one year into the project.
Related: One year in, Wilmington’s Water Street project sees cost jump $7.6 million
The county is working on two major projects, the Health and Human Services Building and the Juvenile Justice Building that will be constructed over the next two years and has utilized the model of Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for two current construction project.
“By using the CMAR model, the county secures a construction manager early in the design process to deliver each project within a guaranteed maximum price, based on the construction documents and specifications at the time of the contract. So any costs exceeding that guaranteed maximum price (that are outside of any change orders) are the financial liability of the CMAR. This gives the county a higher level of cost control from the start,” Coudriet said in a press release.
The new Health and Human Services building is expected to be complete by early 2020 — despite delays from Hurricane Florence.
“Monteith Construction Corporation is the CMAR for that project, so they have assumed the financial liability if things get off course. But the building is on track and has actually moved along quicker than originally anticipated, even with delays from Hurricane Florence. It also appears that it will be on, or possibly under, the project’s budget of $23 million. This is good news for New Hanover County and our taxpayers, especially considering we received $19 million from NHRMC for the sale of the Health Department property to help offset the cost of this project,” he said.
The Juvenile Justice Building contract has been granted to Bordeaux Construction Company as the CMAR and the county is in the process of finalizing the budget and maximum price guaranteed.
“This building has become a priority for the county because, in 2017, North Carolina Legislators passed the “Raise the Age” law, meaning that nonviolent offenses alleged to have been committed by 16 and 17-year-olds will be heard in juvenile court instead of automatically charging these teens as adults.
This law goes into effect in December of this year and will necessitate increased service requirements for the juvenile court system. With the anticipated growth, this new building – which is expected to be complete in early 2021 – will allow our court system to efficiently and effectively serve those teens,” Coudriet said.
