Wellness Center Update
2/27/2012
Indianola YMCA receives approval to prepare the project for bidding
At the February 21st city council meeting, the council members voted to allow SVPA Architects Inc. to prepare the documents that will allow the Indianola YMCA to go out for bids
The project will be bid in two parts, the first for the site work and preparation, and the second for the actual structure
“There has been a lot of work being done on this project over the past nine months to get it to this stage,” said Mayor Ken Bresnan. “We’re now very excited that the YMCA is to a point where the people of Indianola can see the plans, that were created with their input, really start to take shape.
The latest drawings show the interior floor plans and several exterior views of the 61,000 square foot building. All costs are only projected at this time based on best estimates. There are plans if the bids come in higher or lower than expected and any alterations will be made at that time
“It’s great to see many of the great projects in our town coming to fruition,” said city councilperson John Sirianni. “Many people have put in many hours to make this dream a reality and the next 18 months will be a very exciting time in Indianola.”
The updated project budget and site plans are now available for review.
Download them here in PDF format.
12/22/2011
The preliminary project budget and site plans are now available for review.
Download them here in PDF format.
5/31/2011
Remember the excitement on March 1st when the Wellness Center vote passed with an overwhelming majority? That excitement still exists and the steering committee wanted to give you an update on the progress to date.
While it would have been great to see the ground break the week following the vote, it does take time to get all the pieces in place to begin the process.
What is happening right now is architectural firms are being interviewed to see which one will be selected to design the Wellness Facility. An RFP was created and nearly 20 firms expressed an interest in the project. After much discussion and review of the proposals, the list has been narrowed to three firms. These firms will be interviewed in the next several weeks and they will present their expanded thoughts on the project, including the proposed timeline for completion.
Once the architect firm is selected, the real work begins. The design phase typically takes several months to complete. This includes public meetings to gather input on needs and desires for the facility, initial concept drawings and reworking to get to the final plans in place.
Following approval of the final designs, construction can begin. Before a final design is approved, it’s difficult to predict how long that will take but a safe estimate is approximately 14 months from ground breaking to opening day which would put completion at mid 2013.
The Wellness Center is on track financially. The Iowa Legislature is still debating the status of the Vision Iowa grants so it is unknown at this time if that will be an available funding stream for the facility. TIF funds are available to pay for the facility as explained leading up to the vote and Simpson College and the Indianola Community School District are confirmed partners in the project.
There are lots of exciting things happening in Indianola right now, and in the near future you can expect to see visible progress on the Wellness Center too.
If you have any additional questions, please email Jill Johnson at jjohnson@cjni.com and we will get them answered for you.
Thank you for your strong support and your continual interest in seeing this project through to completion.