At Monday’s meeting, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to make two changes to the financing of Project Grace, adjusting both the overall cost and amending the agreement with Cape Fear Development to expand their scope of work.
The vote establishes a $21.5 million total cost for the finishing touches on the public side of Project Grace, which will create a new downtown library and relocate the Cape Fear Museum. Budget lines include $14.7 million for exhibit design and fabrication, including a domed theater (a.k.a. planetarium), $3 million for exhibit infrastructure (including walls, flooring, and electrical), $1.7 million for furniture, equipment, and signage, $1 million for a/v equipment and security systems, and other costs.
It’s the first time the county has publicly presented a realistic final cost for exhibits and finishing touches. For much of Project Grace’s turbulent history, staff have used a $7.5-million placeholder budget, with acknowledgements that an official cost would be higher.
Chief Facilities Officer Sara Warmuth noted on Monday that the placeholder was probably “established way back in 2019,” early in the project’s history. It was included as part of the county’s proposed deal with the Zimmer Development Company and then removed from Zimmer’s scope of work in 2022, with plans for the county to directly fund the work.
A county spokesperson later confirmed the original estimate was “solely based on the potential square footage of the museum and industry-based standards for cost of exhibits at the time,” namely 2017-2018 estimated costs of $300 per square foot. The placeholder estimate “did not take into account the full scale or nature of exhibits, because those were unknowns at that time.” It also didn’t include the planetarium or outdoor exhibit, which were added later. And, of course, there has been significant inflation since 2019.
During the meeting, Commissioner Rob Zapple noted that the roughly threefold increase from placeholder to actual cost was not a surprise.
“We knew full well [...] that number was going to go up, when we had a better handle on what the exhibit costs would be,” Zapple said.
County staff agreed that the cost was bound to go up, but noted they never had an estimate of by how much.
“We did not have an expectation as the scope was not fully developed. As the building was designed, exhibits were designed, this budget was established,” according to a county spokesperson.
Zapple also noted that the increased costs were based on the county’s desire for a “class A museum and library,” and not from budget overruns by the developer.
The county will fund roughly $16.1 million in finishing costs directly with the rest funded by the county through its agreement with Cape Fear Development. After Monday’s vote, Cape Fear Development will take on an additional $5.4 million in work, increasing the guaranteed maximum price of their work from $55,942,679 to $61,377,197.
Warmuth told commissioners that “primarily [the increased scope] consists of some really big exhibit items.” She gave the example of a partition wall.
“It is definitely to our benefit to have Monteith as the general contractor build a partition wall for exhibits, compared to paying the exhibit fabricator to build a partition wall, they can do it faster and cheaper and do it now while they're in the facility,” Warmuth said.
Notably, county officials say the $5.4 million in additional scope for CFD is not related to roughly $4.5 million in savings CFD identified when it took over after Zimmer exited the project.
“Items that were value-engineered out of the project were items that were a part of the main building. This amendment increases the scope of work to include exhibits and exhibit infrastructure, and not the construction of the building itself. A few of the main items that were value-engineered out for the original reduction are: removed additional entry from the parking deck into the building, changed brick material on exterior of building, changed to less expensive screening material for rooftop equipment, and removed staff terrace area,” according to the county.
According to the county, exhibit fabrication is expected to start this month. The library is expected to open to the public in October of this year, after which demolition and redevelopment of the private side of Project Grace will begin. The museum is expected to open in May of next year.
[Disclosure notice: Commissioner Zapple is a member of the WHQR Board of Trustees, which has no say in editorial decisions.]
