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Civic Center back on budget New bids on the Thomasville Civic Center rang up at $3.5 million, well below the first bids of $5.2 million. The low bidder for the second round was Frasier-Ousley. The plan for the civic center remains with restoring and remodeling the original high school auditorium to seat 456 people, down by about 140 seats from a figure of more than 500 in earlier plans to build a new auditorium. The revamped stage is also smaller by 1,100 square feet from the earlier plans for a new building. The original structure is smaller than the earlier proposal by about 1,900 feet. Though the theater is smaller than in the earlier proposal, Thomasville’s arts council stated concerns that it would have trouble filling nearly 600 seats for local productions. Other cost-saving items include reducing the size and complexity of the building’s entrance. The city plans to perform the debris removal, dropping $30,000 from the bid cost. An option to use wood framing supplies donated by an area supplier is estimated to save $50,000 on the project. The city will also lease the outside lighting instead of purchasing it, providing an estimated savings of $77,000. Lighting and curtains from the stage were removed from the second bid, cutting another $54,000 from the bid price. During a meeting of the civic center task force Monday night, members were concerned about the elimination of the stage lighting. Mayor Sheldon Day and architect Frank Rosa, with McKee and Associates assured the members that the wiring for the lights was still included. Rosa told members of the task force that renovating an older structure was more difficult than building a new one, which is one of the reasons the bids did not come out lower than they did. Other cost savings not in the bid could be the use of parolees at the LIFE Tech Center for demolition. Realizing the items lacking in the project, Day said he would ask the Civic Center Foundation to put up the $91,000 it has raised for the project as contingency, and if not used as a contingency, to go towards the lease-purchase of the vortex stage rigging system and stage lighting. “This project will take about 12-14 months, so there’s time to do more fundraising,” Day said. Day also spoke about the possibility of securing grants once the project is underway.
To finance the project, the city plans to issue a bond with a 30-year maturity. The debt service on the bond is estimated at $230,000 per year. Sales, business license and lodging fees that were increased to pay for the project are currently bringing in about $260,000.
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