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Architect: Forget Ockawamick, build new
County, interviewing renovators, may RFP new build
By John Mason
COLUMBIA COUNTY — Renovating the former Ockawamick school for county office space is “not the right move for the county,” Schenectady architect J.T. Pollard, a principal with Re4orm Architecture, one of 21 who bid on the project, told the Register-Star Friday. Re4orm has instead proposed the county construct a new building to house county offices.
Whether inspired by Re4orm, by comments from Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera and other critics or by Wednesday’s meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church organized by the Bottom Line Party, the county supervisors plan to vote on a resolution to get non-binding estimates on erecting a new building at the Ockawamick site, according to Board Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale.
The resolution will go before a special Finance Committee meeting prior to Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
The Ockawamick building, on Route 217 in Claverack, has been selected by the Board of Supervisors as the future home of the Department of Social Services and various other county departments and offices.
To retrofit it from schoolrooms to the required number and type of county offices, the county put out a request-for-proposals. Nine of the 21 bidders were selected as finalists, of which five were interviewed Thursday and another four are scheduled for Monday.
Re4orm Architecture was not among the nine finalists, but its total package differed from the others; along with the requested proposal to design a renovation plan and supervise bidding and construction management, Re4orm also included an “Option B, for consideration,” which was just a one-page proposal to construct a new building on five to six acres of the school site.
According to Re4orm’s Option B, the cost for this building would be between $11.5 million and $12.8 million, including all soft and hard costs and allowing the county 100 percent control and input at all times.
“With the extensive renovation work, asbestos and hazardous material remediation, stabilization of the 1950s-1960s structure and abandonment of existing utility systems with implementation of new systems, you will still only enhance and prolong the useful life of the facility,” Re4orm stated.
Instead, the firm recommended “a new LEED-certified, 72,000-square-foot, two-story facility with state-of-the-art utility systems, construction methods, [New York State Energy Research and Development Authority] high-efficiency certifications [that] will result in a comfortable, expandable, and relatively low-maintenance and financially responsible home for the county’s needs.”
Re4orm recommended leaving the present building for future use or expansion as needed, thus saving or delaying the “extensive cost for rehab and hazardous material abatement.”
“We’ve rehabilitated old buildings; we’re qualified to do that kind of work,” Pollard said. “I think there are some buildings worth going over and above the line to save. In this case, with the structure, and the work you have to go through to configure this building, it’s really not worth it.”
Pollard said he has 20 years’ experience on public architectural projects. The firm, originally known as Smith Pollard Architects, is currently working on the $72 million Tech Valley Science Center, the $15 million Schenectady Center, and a $20 million, five-story dormitory for Schenectady Community College, among several other projects.
County Workspace Utilization Subcommittee Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown, said Pollard’s opinions about Ockawamick are not universally held by architects.
“We met with five firms yesterday,” he said. “Three of the firms said the building was a great building. They’re hoping to get the job: They see a lot of character in the building, a lot of life left.
“One firm has a natural lighting consultant,” Brown said. “They said the building has three fingers that go off of it. He said that’s the type of buildings built in California to let all the natural light into the building. He said you don’t see it in the Northeast a lot.”
County Public Works Commissioner David Robinson, asked about Re4orm’s proposal, said it’s illegal for the county to enter into a design/build contract. Under design/build, a single entity contracts with the owner for the whole job, then subcontracts parts of it.
“If you executed a contract with a design/build firm for $12 million,” he said, “I give it to you to build the building. What compulsion do you have to build that building? You have competing interests: to the owner and to yourself as the business owner.”
Robinson prefers the design/bid/build model, in which the owner contracts separately with the designer and the contractor.
“Under design/bid/build, you have a complete set of plans and specs,” he said. “You know exactly what you want built. Everything is specified to the nth degree.”
The contractor affiliate with Re4orm Architecture in the Ockawamick bidding is BBL, the firm that also built the Columbia County Human Services Building.
“I asked BBL can I as a county enter into a design/build contract,” Robinson said. “Their answer: That’s up to your attorney.”
In a memo to County Attorney Dan Tuczinski, Deputy County Attorney Robert Fitzsimmons said design/build contracts are not permitted under General Municipal Law because all contracts for public work more than $20,000 have to be awarded by the municipality itself. Bidding cannot be delegated to another party.
In addition, under Wicks law, Fitzsimmons stated, separate contracts must be awarded for at least three components of the work, electrical, plumbing and HVAC. “A fourth contract may be awarded to a general contractor for the remainder of the project scope.”
Fitzsimmons also said design/bid/build contracts would be prohibited.
In a letter dated Friday to County Engineer Dean Knox, Pollard said it was true the county could not do a design/build contract, but it could enter into a design/manage process, using an agreement between the architect and a consultant, in this case BBL.
“Our team also feels there are locations within the city that would lend [themselves] to a more effective, efficient and socially acceptable DSS facility than the proposed Ockawamick site,” Pollard stated. “Even with the addition of a proposed parking facility to accommodate employee and public parking, there are more efficient alternatives that should be explored and considered.”
In this paragraph, his Option B seemed to dovetail with Mayor Rick Scalera’s Plan B, which proposes a new building at the corner of Fourth and Columbia streets in Hudson, along with a parking garage across the street.
However, Pollard told the Register-Star that he had no prior knowledge about the politics in Columbia County, and found out “more than I knew” by reading Thursday’s Register-Star. His letter stated that, “Because of our vast team experience, we were able to submit a fully compliant proposal for the Ockawamick project at a very efficient and competitive fee.”
The short list for the Ockawamick RFP currently being interviewed is:
CSArch Architecture Construction Management, Albany.
Mosaic Associates, East Greenbush
Optimus Architecture, Rhinebeck
C & S Companies, Syracuse
Redtop Architects, New York City
The Architectural Bureau, Chatham
Lothrop Associates, Valhalla Westchester County
Friedman Fisher Associates, Albany
Liscum McCormack Vanvoorhis, Poughkeepsie
To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.
By John Mason
COLUMBIA COUNTY — Renovating the former Ockawamick school for county office space is “not the right move for the county,” Schenectady architect J.T. Pollard, a principal with Re4orm Architecture, one of 21 who bid on the project, told the Register-Star Friday. Re4orm has instead proposed the county construct a new building to house county offices.
Whether inspired by Re4orm, by comments from Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera and other critics or by Wednesday’s meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church organized by the Bottom Line Party, the county supervisors plan to vote on a resolution to get non-binding estimates on erecting a new building at the Ockawamick site, according to Board Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale.
The resolution will go before a special Finance Committee meeting prior to Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
The Ockawamick building, on Route 217 in Claverack, has been selected by the Board of Supervisors as the future home of the Department of Social Services and various other county departments and offices.
To retrofit it from schoolrooms to the required number and type of county offices, the county put out a request-for-proposals. Nine of the 21 bidders were selected as finalists, of which five were interviewed Thursday and another four are scheduled for Monday.
Re4orm Architecture was not among the nine finalists, but its total package differed from the others; along with the requested proposal to design a renovation plan and supervise bidding and construction management, Re4orm also included an “Option B, for consideration,” which was just a one-page proposal to construct a new building on five to six acres of the school site.
According to Re4orm’s Option B, the cost for this building would be between $11.5 million and $12.8 million, including all soft and hard costs and allowing the county 100 percent control and input at all times.
“With the extensive renovation work, asbestos and hazardous material remediation, stabilization of the 1950s-1960s structure and abandonment of existing utility systems with implementation of new systems, you will still only enhance and prolong the useful life of the facility,” Re4orm stated.
Instead, the firm recommended “a new LEED-certified, 72,000-square-foot, two-story facility with state-of-the-art utility systems, construction methods, [New York State Energy Research and Development Authority] high-efficiency certifications [that] will result in a comfortable, expandable, and relatively low-maintenance and financially responsible home for the county’s needs.”
Re4orm recommended leaving the present building for future use or expansion as needed, thus saving or delaying the “extensive cost for rehab and hazardous material abatement.”
“We’ve rehabilitated old buildings; we’re qualified to do that kind of work,” Pollard said. “I think there are some buildings worth going over and above the line to save. In this case, with the structure, and the work you have to go through to configure this building, it’s really not worth it.”
Pollard said he has 20 years’ experience on public architectural projects. The firm, originally known as Smith Pollard Architects, is currently working on the $72 million Tech Valley Science Center, the $15 million Schenectady Center, and a $20 million, five-story dormitory for Schenectady Community College, among several other projects.
County Workspace Utilization Subcommittee Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown, said Pollard’s opinions about Ockawamick are not universally held by architects.
“We met with five firms yesterday,” he said. “Three of the firms said the building was a great building. They’re hoping to get the job: They see a lot of character in the building, a lot of life left.
“One firm has a natural lighting consultant,” Brown said. “They said the building has three fingers that go off of it. He said that’s the type of buildings built in California to let all the natural light into the building. He said you don’t see it in the Northeast a lot.”
County Public Works Commissioner David Robinson, asked about Re4orm’s proposal, said it’s illegal for the county to enter into a design/build contract. Under design/build, a single entity contracts with the owner for the whole job, then subcontracts parts of it.
“If you executed a contract with a design/build firm for $12 million,” he said, “I give it to you to build the building. What compulsion do you have to build that building? You have competing interests: to the owner and to yourself as the business owner.”
Robinson prefers the design/bid/build model, in which the owner contracts separately with the designer and the contractor.
“Under design/bid/build, you have a complete set of plans and specs,” he said. “You know exactly what you want built. Everything is specified to the nth degree.”
The contractor affiliate with Re4orm Architecture in the Ockawamick bidding is BBL, the firm that also built the Columbia County Human Services Building.
“I asked BBL can I as a county enter into a design/build contract,” Robinson said. “Their answer: That’s up to your attorney.”
In a memo to County Attorney Dan Tuczinski, Deputy County Attorney Robert Fitzsimmons said design/build contracts are not permitted under General Municipal Law because all contracts for public work more than $20,000 have to be awarded by the municipality itself. Bidding cannot be delegated to another party.
In addition, under Wicks law, Fitzsimmons stated, separate contracts must be awarded for at least three components of the work, electrical, plumbing and HVAC. “A fourth contract may be awarded to a general contractor for the remainder of the project scope.”
Fitzsimmons also said design/bid/build contracts would be prohibited.
In a letter dated Friday to County Engineer Dean Knox, Pollard said it was true the county could not do a design/build contract, but it could enter into a design/manage process, using an agreement between the architect and a consultant, in this case BBL.
“Our team also feels there are locations within the city that would lend [themselves] to a more effective, efficient and socially acceptable DSS facility than the proposed Ockawamick site,” Pollard stated. “Even with the addition of a proposed parking facility to accommodate employee and public parking, there are more efficient alternatives that should be explored and considered.”
In this paragraph, his Option B seemed to dovetail with Mayor Rick Scalera’s Plan B, which proposes a new building at the corner of Fourth and Columbia streets in Hudson, along with a parking garage across the street.
However, Pollard told the Register-Star that he had no prior knowledge about the politics in Columbia County, and found out “more than I knew” by reading Thursday’s Register-Star. His letter stated that, “Because of our vast team experience, we were able to submit a fully compliant proposal for the Ockawamick project at a very efficient and competitive fee.”
The short list for the Ockawamick RFP currently being interviewed is:
CSArch Architecture Construction Management, Albany.
Mosaic Associates, East Greenbush
Optimus Architecture, Rhinebeck
C & S Companies, Syracuse
Redtop Architects, New York City
The Architectural Bureau, Chatham
Lothrop Associates, Valhalla Westchester County
Friedman Fisher Associates, Albany
Liscum McCormack Vanvoorhis, Poughkeepsie
To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.
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