Artists Impression

The Building Saga  

Background

The Lodge originally had planned to construct its lodge building on lands it owned in Black River. This plan was changed and lands were donated by Alpart at Ashwood in Santa Cruz.

The Black River lands were sold and the proceeds held for construction of a building in the new location.

The original building (approved plan) is a 12,000 square feet structure comprising 3 floors:

1.      A Caretaker's Flat and 3 commercial offices for rental

2.      A banquet Hall with kitchen and washroom facilities

3.      Meeting Hall with all required facilities

The property is located in close proximity to a plaza and transport centre so we foresee good potential for commercial office rental (for example doctors, lawyers and other professionals).

In 2005, design drawings and site development begun with land clearing and leveling earthworks along those lines.

In 2006 a chain link fence was erected around the property.

In 2007 and 2008 the project lapsed as the lodge concentrated on fund raising activities dedicated in fulfillment of their fundraising target commitment to the Annual District Festival.

In 2009 building Plans approval was obtained from the Parish Council. In that same year the lodge relocated its meeting to rented space in the Barrington Miller Lodge at the Chariots' Hotel in Santa Cruz and begun construction activity in earnest.

Preparations of the foundation and the preparations for the corner stone laying ceremony started at the North East corner of the building but, although scheduled for October, 2009, the ceremony was postponed due to logistics.

Since 2010, with the impact of Global recession pointing to restrictions in fundraising opportunities and construction cost escalation, the Lodge took the decision to reduce the scale of its construction plans.

The building will now be constructed in phases without changing the foundation plan.

The modified plan (named phase 1) will entail the construction of a section of the building amounting to 4,800 square feet with all the required facilities.

 This excludes the three offices and the caretaker's flat. We will therefore not have an initial income earning feature from the rental of commercial office space.

The plan is to offer the hall for rental to the public for weddings, dinner parties, school examination sittings, seminars and meetings. As soon as possible the site will be developed to include the planned commercial elements.

Conversations are also taking place with the Barrington Miller Lodge for their participation as possible tenants or some form of cost sharing relationship.

Current Status/Completed activities

Site clearance and leveling

Excavation and grading of driveway

Fencing and securing of property boundaries

Complete excavation of 500 ft of foundation trenches

Construction of 10 of 25 building support columns (inclusive of the NE column)

Casting of 15% of concrete footing

 

Plan of action

Complete foundation and NE corner prep

Complete construction of ground floor to accommodate lodge meetings

Complete construction of top floor (roof, walls windows and doors, etc)

Acquire and install remaining furnishings and facilities required to fully furnish building for  lodge operations

 

Budget

The construction cost of the original building of 12,000 sq. ft. is approximately $80 million and this we envisage will take several years to complete.

Construction of a smaller and modified building of 4,800 sq. ft. and is planned for completion within 3 years at a cost of approximately $25 million.

We have set an immediate target of $5 million for moving our lodge meeting into this building.

We could then work towards a target of $15 million to $18 million to complete enough facilities to utilize the floor below before completing phase 1 at $25 million.

 

The immediate target is to kick start the next stage of construction with an expenditure of $1.5 million out of the $5 million more in order to complete enough facilities to begin holding lodge meetings in this building. This will be possible if we first complete the top floor of the building (the meeting hall) end year 1.

Our next target will be to raise this target to $18 million for the completion of other facilities on the middle floor (the banquet hall) end year 2.

This will enable us to generate significant rental income from the property. This will then take us to completion of phase 1 end year 3.

Fundraising Results and Donations

 

The lodge has opened separate bank accounts for the project in all three categories of accounts, that is, current, savings, and investment (CD).