Commercial Kitchen Renovation Update
Did you know: we’ve been working towards a new commercial kitchen for more than a decade? Our leadership knows that a well functioning commercial kitchen is essential to the renewal of the church facilities and the ministry we hope to host now and into the future. For any cooking in the church, a commercial grade kitchen is required under the building code and we’ll need to make significant investment to install the necessary equipment and venting.
In early summer we received higher than expected pricing from contractors so we spent the summer doing due diligence work on the project. When we engaged a construction cost estimator to complete a ‘Class A’ cost analysis for the commercial kitchen, the costing came back 17% higher than the lowest bid received from the contractors competing for the work.
Session, the Trustees, Staff and the BPC considered this information and ultimately decided together to move forward with the construction of the commercial kitchen. As expected, approximately 50% of the $1.45M budget for the new commercial kitchen will be dedicated to the ventilation equipment and duct work required to meet the building code. Leadership also notes that moving forward with the project now will ensure that we have a fully operating kitchen when the Fellowship Center is removed for construction of the new South side development.
We eagerly anticipate construction to begin in October! Your prayers for this project are appreciated.
Tom Affleck
On behalf of the Building & Property Committee
