Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: The county has approved the building of a new county garage on land they already own on Riverside Drive near the county landfill. The building is 21,000 square feet, and the cost of this building is in excess of $9 million, or $450 per square foot. A regular commercial building would only cost about $150 per square foot, since they already own the land. There may be some special equipment or something, but I don’t understand. How could that cost an additional $6 million? Can you get a cost breakdown, especially for the $6 million in extra costs?
My answer: I refuse to believe any government would pay more for something than it should cost. In other news, I have got to get my wish list off to Santa soon.
Real answer: This new building is called the “Fleet Services Building,” and the county has a presentation all about it that you can find here.
“This is not a typical commercial building — it has highly specialized equipment, including a whole building generator that allows the building to serve as an emergency operations center or back-up facility in the event of a natural disaster, high-efficiency HVAC equipment, a 10-bay garage, lifts for working on fleet vehicles, and full rooftop solar,” Buncombe County spokesperson Lillian Govus told me via email.
It will also have chargers for electric vehicles, a trailer, and an equipment storage shelter that will cover 5,200 square feet.
The project originated in June 2021 with a price tag of $7.7 million. The price jumped $1.7 million, to $9.45 million, a 22 percent increase, in part because of some of the specialized features mentioned above and partly because of an increase in construction materials.
The commissioners recently approved the budget increase.
The information page also notes that the new building will allow the county to vacate three of its current buildings:
- 40 McCormick Place – This will allow the building to be renovated into a regional EMS base.
- 194 Hominy Creek Road, the current garage at the transfer station — This will allow for the transfer station to address safety and wait times.
- 52 Apac Drive, the current groundskeeping location at the SportsPark — This will allow for a future Parks & Rec building.
Construction is slated to begin in early fall, according to the website.
As far as that price per square foot, Govus said this building is not a typical garage, and she questioned my reader’s estimate of being able to build such a structure for $150 per square foot.
“I’m not sure where the cost of $150 square foot comes from — I’m not seeing any reports that cite a figure that low, especially with the construction cost indexes reported by CBRE,” Govus said, referring to CBRE, which bills itself as a global leader in commercial real estate services and investments.
The company reported this in July 2022: “A confluence of events—including soaring construction demand, inflation, pandemic-related restrictions, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and the war in Ukraine—are spurring rising costs and uncertainty across the construction industry.”
CBRE forecast a 14.1 percent year-over-year increase in construction costs by the end of 2022, with that escalation stabilizing to the 2-4 percent range in 2023 and 2024.
Buildingsguide.com, a commercial company that helps businesses find suppliers of metal buildings, states, “On average, the cost per square foot for constructing a commercial building ranges from $50 to $275.”
Of course, this building has some offices and /meeting rooms in it, too, so it’s not just a garage.
Levelset, another company in the commercial building industry, has an interesting article from last November titled, “2022 Guide to US Building Commercial Construction Cost per Square Foot.” Various factors come into play regarding potential cost, including geographic location.
Author Tom Scalisi takes a deep dive into all of this, and I’ve got to say it’s kind of fascinating. I looked at building costs for the South.
He lists a variety of building types, including “warehouse and manufacturing facilities,” where a regional distribution center would cost $214 per square foot, a single story office space at $313 per square foot and a government administration building at $591 per square foot.
If you’re curious, a museum/performing arts center comes in at $892 per square foot, and an acute care medical facility $888.
So, with the variations on this county building, the price per square foot makes more sense. It is pretty high, but it’s also more than just a garage.
Question: Can you please help explain to your local readers like myself why postage is increasing for the third time this year, beginning July 9? Why don’t they just increase it all in one shot and stop nickel- and- diming it several times a year?
My answer: Fine. It will now cost you $197 to mail a letter.
Real answer: Philip Bogenberger, the U.S. Postal Service spokesperson for our region, referred me to an April news release the service put out in April. And he offered some reminders.
“I would like to reiterate that as operating expenses fueled by inflation continue to rise and the effects of a previously defective pricing model are still being felt, these price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue to achieve the financial stability sought by its ‘Delivering for America’ 10-year plan,” Bogenberger said via email.
The Postal Service notes that its prices “remain among the most affordable in the world.”
That April release detailed a three-cent increase in the price of a first-class mail “Forever” stamp from 63 cents to 66 cents.
The increase, the Postal Service said, represents a 5.4 percent increase “to offset the rise in inflation.”
Metered letters also increased by three cents, and domestic postcards went up from 48 cents to 51 cents. International postcards and letters jumped from $1.45 to $1.50.
So, blame inflation for this one. Stay tuned for more, I suppose.
As a reminder, the U.S. States Postal Service “generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations,” according to that news release. It’s “an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to nearly 165 million addresses six and often seven days a week.”
Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941.
I have no way of knowing if $9 million is a reasonable cost, but with those kind of numbers the county should offer naming rights. Wicked Weed & U.S. Cellular Fleet Services Building?