Centre County set to enter next phase of $3.2 million courthouse renovation project
With an anticipated completion date of April 2020, Centre County is a step closer to finishing its budgeted $3.2 million courthouse renovation project.
Entering into phase two of construction, the board of commissioners voted Tuesday to move forward with a series of contracts — totaling at $1.26 million — for the final series of work to be done on one of Pennsylvania’s oldest functioning courthouses. The last phase will include a fourth floor security vestibule, interior renovations on the second and third floors and a new fire protection and sprinkler system.
Contracts with J.C. Orr & Son, Inc., Joseph C. Hazel, Inc. and Stelco, Inc. moved to next week’s consent agenda. Once approved, Deputy Administrator Robert Jacobs said construction could begin at the end of November or beginning of December.
Serving as general contractor, J.C. Orr and Son will construct a waterline from Allegheny Street to the courthouse, operating under a $644,698 contract, and Stelco will perform all electric services with a $192,705 contract. The $422,634 contract with Joseph C. Hazel came with a cost that was unaccounted for in the initial base bid for an alternate nitrogen generator that will be added to the sprinkler system.
The generator will help prevent damage in the pipes that run above courtroom one — one of the oldest parts of the building — Jacobs said.
“We don’t want to leave water in those pipes for obvious reasons, so this nitrogen generator will prolong and prevent corrosion within those air pressurized fire lines,” Jacobs said.
Before the bids were opened earlier this fall, the commissioners said they wanted to see that an updated sprinkler system was part of the courthouse renovations.
“I’m happy to hear we can fit this sprinkler project in,” Commissioner Mark Higgins said in September. “The courthouse is so old that if we were to have any issue inside the courthouse ... we might end up losing another building in Bellefonte ... I think the sprinkler system is money well spent.”
Weber Murphy Fox, an architectural firm, will provide a project manager to oversee the project, but Commissioner Steve Dershem said he would want someone to monitor the project closely.
“I believe based on the size of these three contracts and the scope of this project, that we strongly consider having a construction manager to monitor the progress of this project,” Dershem said. “This is going to be a very complicated project, and my fear is that we have a lot of change orders, and I think it’s worth our time to be proactive and looking at opportunities to avoid that.”
Jacobs and Commissioner Michael Pipe said the county will work to examine the current plan and resources to ensure the renovation runs according to plan.
“The last thing we’d want is additional cost, but we took a lot of time and energy during the architectural phase to really dig into the building,” Pipe said.
Phase two is the largest part of the construction project. The building’s first floor, primarily to administrative offices, were renovated last year. The most recent updates, which began over the summer, enhanced the courthouse’s energy use and came with the replacement of its HVAC system.
Once construction begins, Jacobs said the first project of phase two will be to build the security vestibule at the fourth floor entrance.
