Two weeks after the city of Port Coquitlam hosted an open house to talk about its plans for the new downtown recreation complex, the fee for the project manager has shot up by $1 million.
In a report released today that will go before the finance committee next Tuesday, city staff said they're recommending council increase the cost for Tango Management Group from $343,000 to $1.35 million.
Kristen Meersman, PoCo's director of engineering and public works, said the city hired Tango too soon, in early 2015, before it had recruited Ventana Construction Ltd. to design and build the $132-million replacement facility, south of Wilson Avenue. "We probably went out a little prematurely, to be honest," she said.
Many assumptions were made back then, Meersman said: City staff didn't precisely know the scope or schedule of the mega-project, which when finished in June 2021, will include a leisure pool, three ice sheets and the Terry Fox Library, among other amenities. New housing and a restaurant will also be built on the south and west sides of the 15-acre property, with work wrapping up by 2022.
"Today, we know exactly what we're building and exactly how we're building it," Meersman told The Tri-City News. "Now, it's all set in stone."
Mayor Greg Moore said yesterday even with the $1-million bump to Tango's fee, the city can still accommodate the cost within the budget as staff budgeted $1.5 million for project management in 2015 — or 1% of the project costs.
City council "is always trying to drive down costs, especially with consultants," he said. "During negotiations, we thought there might be an ability to drive that cost down but then when we chose the development process with Ventana, we needed to have the development consultant to be on the ground and know what they're doing. They have an expertise that we don't have."
Meersman stressed the overall price tag of $132 million for the 205,000 sq. ft. complex is fixed and "will not change."
In an email, Coun. Brad West said the cost increase for project management is a red flag and he'll be pressing for answers Tuesday.
"I don't subscribe to the theory that we should just accept a $1-million escalation as the cost of doing business," he wrote. "We have made cost control a priority for this project and this will be important to get clarity and answers on and then decide the best way forward including considering alternate project management options."
The new rec centre is budgeted to cost $1.2 million more to operate annually than the current complex. Ground-breaking is scheduled to take place next week.
• To stay up-to-date with the Port Coquitlam rec complex redevelopment, visit portcoquitlam.ca/reccomplex, follow the Twitter hashtag #pocoreccomplex or call 604-927-5420 (project) or 604-927-7529 (programs).
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
