Centre County takes ‘another big step’ in determining use of former Centre Crest building
Centre County Commissioners are taking the next step in determining how and when the former Centre Crest building will be used.
The board approved a contract with Muhlenberg Greene Architects, LTD for an adaptive reuse design services proposal during Tuesday’s Commissioners meeting. The county will pay a lump sum fixed fee of $882,300 with estimated reimbursable expenses of $17,500, and additional time and expense services, according to the agenda.
The proposal from the firm outlines the recommended next steps to build upon the feasibility study that was performed on the former long-term care facility, John Franek Jr., deputy county administrator, said Tuesday. He said this proposal will have the final design documents as well as the construction documents that would then be forwarded on to the winning bidder of the construction project.
Board Chair Michael Pipe said this year the county will hone in on how the space will be laid out.
“This is another big step in a project that’ll be absolutely important to really, a generational investment, into county government. And so we’re taking this step by step being very mindful about our approach, but this agreement with MG will really build on the work that they’ve done with a preliminary design phase, but really get into the nuts and bolts,” he said.
Currently the building is anticipated to be predominately used for county government space, Pipe said, though they are exploring portions of space that could potentially be rented out to some partner agencies that work with the county government.
“The focus right now is for county government space, relieving some of the pressure here at the Willowbank building and in some of our leased spaces across the county as well,” Pipe said.
During an August 2021 work session, the board reviewed renderings from an adaptive reuse study of the former Centre Crest building. Those renderings showed that the Bellefonte Senior Center and some county agencies could have a new home in the facility.
The building has 118,569 square feet of usable space, Franek previously said. Most of the space would be used for departments, amenities and shared spaces, with a heavy focus on human services. On Tuesday, Pipe said though departments are making do with the space they have, if they get additional staff or an increase in case loads, they would need more space. Better coordination and layout of offices, particularly among human services, would be helpful, too, he said.
In the coming months, Pipe said they’ll be looking at borrowing money for the work that’s going to be done. He anticipates the project bids will go out in early 2023 and with the current timeline, they would be moved into the building by July 2024.
The board previously selected Muhlenberg Greene Architects to conduct an adaptive reuse study of the former Centre Crest facility to determine what to do with the building, after residents of the long-term care home moved into a new location.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 2:40 PM.
