Renovations to the Trotter Convention Center in downtown Columbus are nearly complete, and the project is on pace to come in under budget.
According to data The Dispatch obtained from city chief financial officer Milton Rawle, the actual project is expected to cost about $24,000 less than its original budget of $2.32 million. As of Wednesday, project costs sat at more than $59,000 under budget, but Rawle said the remaining work — installing new acrylic roof panels on the building’s east side — is estimated to cost $35,000.
The city created the Trotter in 1987 by renovating the old National Guard Armory and city auditorium. Last year, it began a renovation project to update the upstairs “Columbus Room” — complete with state-of-the-art sound equipment — as well as improve the center’s three lower level ballrooms, replace the roofs and upgrade the Trotter’s HVAC system.
The renovated Trotter began hosting events in January.
The road to savings
Columbus secured a $2.4 million loan from the Mississippi Development Bank to fund the renovations, which Columbus Light & Water will repay over 15-20 years in lieu of property tax. Rawle said $80,000 went directly to fees associated with the loan, leaving the remainder for the project.
In February 2014, the first project bids came in between $3.3 million and $3.7 million — about $1 million to $1.4 million over the project budget. That lead to the city becoming its own contractor.
The city appointed Major Andrews IV as architect and J5/Broaddus as project manager.
City chief operations officer David Armstrong told The Dispatch on Wednesday the savings from the city self-contracting spoke for itself.
“We saved a lot of money by contracting the project ourselves, as you typically do when you self-contract projects like this,” Armstrong said. “I think it was a wise decision on the city’s part to do that.”
The city spent a combined $104,333 less than it budgeted on general renovations, lighting and electrical.
Burks-Mordecai completed the general work — which included flooring, ceiling, bathroom and plumbing work, as well as repairs to the temporary sliding walls in the ballrooms — for $60,309 less than budget. Webster Electric completed lighting and electrical work for $44,024 under budget.
“There were some minor items that were reduced in size and scope,” J5/Broaddus senior project manager Robyn Eastman said. “That’s where we realized a lot of that savings.”
For example, Eastman said the project required fewer lights in one of the ballrooms than originally expected, and the Trotter ultimately kept a fully functioning 100-amp breaker that the city budgeted to replace. He said change orders to the tile flooring during the project also saved money.
The city also came in under budget on architectural and project management fees, paying Andrews $13,022 and J5 $3,548 less than originally budgeted.
Eastman said the city agreed to pay Andrews up to $90,000 and J5 up to $99,000 for their parts in the project, and each charged an hourly rate for work performed. In Andrews’ case, Eastman said the hourly rate was $115, while J5 charged $95. Neither, Eastman said, logged the hours to meet their respective caps.
Miscellaneous expenses over budget
The city did go $66,620 over budget in miscellaneous expenses. Eastman said almost that entire amount came from extra millwork on a wall in the front lobby near the ticket booth.
Originally, the wall was meant to be an accent wall with no wood paneling, but the city decided mid-project to add paneling so it would match surrounding walls. The project spent $5,000 less than budget replacing the building’s main roof, but the change order to add the acrylic panels near the entrance will cause an overage in that line item.
The city council in April also approved an unbudgeted furniture expense for the Trotter. Armstrong said the city would purchase up to $40,000 in furnishings for the convention center out of its general budget.
Overall, Eastman said he is pleased with the Trotter upgrades.
“I’m very proud of what we accomplished at the Trotter,” he said. “I think we turned out a fine product. We hope the city enjoys this as much as we think they will.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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