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| Architectural rendering of new Dining HUB to be located near new dorms. |
A new dining facility that is being constructed along with the 700-bed campus residence hall currently under construction near the corner of Osceola Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd will cost more than $5 million more than anticipated, according to a presentation the FAMU Board of Trustees will hear this week.
“Various reasons exist for this but it appears initial planning for the project underestimated the cost to build such a facility,” wrote interim VP Richard Schweigert.
When the new dining facility was initially approved in March 2018, FAMU allowed $2.7 million for its construction. It was to be a shell building comprised of 6,000-8,000 square feet of usable space.
At its September 18, 2019, Schweigert requested, and the FAMU Board approved, another $1.6 million in funding from the auxiliary reserve fund to complete build out of the interior of the facility and equip it.
Construct Two, the developer of the 700-bed residence hall is also constructing the dining facilty.
In a rush to meet the deadline to close on the HBCU loan financing, FAMU signed an agreement with Construct Two that did not show the full cost for the Dinning Hub shell or the energy plant. The developer provided FAMU with a 60% early estimate.
The Dining Hub shell was originally estimated to cost $1.57 million, the bids for it came in at $4.5 million --- nearly $3million more.
Schweigert, pointed out that the “hard bids” on Dinning Hub have now come in.
In a moment of complete transparency, also noted that “there is also a shortage of $1.0 million for IT costs for the dorms.”
Chiller Energy Plant to power new dorm and Dining Hub also over budget
Schweigert also noted that the Chiller Energy Plant will need an additional $1 million to complete.
Schweigert, who started work at FAMU in August 2019, and his staff recommends to the Board, that these additional costs be covered by reducing overall Auxiliary and Title III reserve accounts by up to $7.0M as deemed appropriate by the President.
Facilities has long been a concern
In September 2018, when the BOG passed a resolution allowing FAMU to seek low-cost federal funding, it did so by placing unprecedented conditions on the university as signal of its growing frustration with FAMU’s mismanagement of its campus construction projects.
In December 2018, state auditors took issue with the university’s management of the construction contract for the Center for Access and Student Success (CASS). Specifically, auditors sighted FAMU for not providing providing proper documentation and for not verifying bills issues by the contractor related to the general conditions cost a $3.6 million on the building.
Among the conditions the BOG placed on the university before approving the new dorm project:
·· The University report on a monthly basis all aspects of the housing project, until BOG decides that this is longer require
· The University continues to pursue outsourcing its housing maintenance.
· The University may not transfer any money from the housing system for non-housing system purposes except for the housing systems’ reasonable portion of the university’s general overhead expenses until such time that all existing housing system maintenance issues have been addressed.
· And, the University may not request any additional housing system debt or enter into any public private partnerships, including a new football stadium, until the completion of the project and facilities conditions assessment is performed that indicates the university is making substantial progress on its housing system deferred maintenance back log.