Events Center expected to be finished by February
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 8, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Joe Thornton of Keen Plumbing connects the water lines in the back bathroom of the Goldsboro Events Center Thursday. What was once a locker room was converted into to bathrooms so that the center could serve more people with ease.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Director of Parks and Recreation Scott Barnard, Jason Pate of Wayne Electric and general contractor Jeff Speight of SP8 Enterprises talk about some of the construction that needs to be done.
The Goldsboro Events Center, formerly known as the Goldsboro Country Club, is expected to be completed by the end of February.
This places its completion several months behind schedule, as the city originally said it would be completed in late October or early November 2015. This delay is due to a multitude of issues the contractors encountered once they began renovating the building, Park and Recreation Director Scott Barnard said.
"We started this process hoping to do the work as a traditional renovation," Barnard said. "We wanted to do things like fixing what was broken, painting and add some walls -- things that didn't require fixing the structure. As we got into that, we saw that maybe 50 percent of the building needed repairs to its structural integrity, then it climbed to 60 percent, and we had to start coming up with architectural plans and building permits."
When the city realized the extent of work that would be necessary to renovate the building to an acceptable standard, the city had to go back and hire architects.
This caused the city to spend about eight weeks in a design process they never intended to have to go through, stalling the project by two months.
"We're the city, and we hold people accountable for making sure they go through the right channels of pulling building permits and hiring architects," Barnard said. "Since that is the case, I don't think we could have looked at ourselves if we didn't hold ourselves to the same standard during this process."
Another obstacle that caused the project to get behind schedule was that -- due to having to work through issues the city didn't expect -- the subcontractors hired by the city were getting busier and busier with other projects as they waited to get to work on the old country club renovation.
"It's going gangbusters for those guys right now," Barnard said. "When we started out, I would say our subcontractors were only moderately busy. When we started they could commit nearly everyone they had. By the time we got it together, they were bumping up against other projects they had been hired to do."
Regardless of the hiccups encountered, the city is expected finish the project within the upper limits of its budget, with the total price tag for the renovation expected to hit $1.2 million, which includes the purchase price of the building for $400,000.
The upper limits of the budget was hit because the city made what Barnard called "good stewardship" decisions when it came to repairing certain parts of the building.
For example, when the city discovered the roof needed repairs, they hired somebody to repair the roof and discovered there were more repairs needed than what was originally thought. After finding this out, the city decided to repair everything that might need it, rather than only what would be considered as being in critical need of repair.
This is only one of many examples of repair work that became more extensive than originally expected.
"We bought a building with a whole lot of deferred maintenance," Barnard said. "We re-did sewer work that we probably could have kissed off. Instead of only repairing what was critical, we repaired all the things we thought were in need of repair."
But the renovations have changed the face of the old Goldsboro Country Club, and the city is hoping the changes will attract high volumes of foot traffic and use of the new events center.
The center was gutted, many walls have been knocked down and new walls have been erected and nearly all of the rooms underwent significant changes.
When golfers and patrons walk into the front door, the first thing they will notice is that the men's and women's bathrooms will have switched sides.
The women's bathroom is now larger as well.
But in the back of the country club, where men's and women's locker rooms -- complete with their own restrooms -- are being constructed, the men's locker room and restroom area are larger than the women's facilities.
The current clubhouse for the golf course will be demolished, and the facility will move into the country club.
Golfers will enter from the left side of the building and will have locker rooms to the right and an area with a bar, pro-shop counter and seating to the left.
An outdoor building, which was previously used as a locker room area, has been converted into an open patio area where golf carts will be stored. The pool that accompanied the outdoor locker rooms have been dug up, filled with dirt and sealed.
The outdoor patio area behind the country club is in the process of being extended out to nearly double its former length, in the hopes that it will be used for weddings and other gatherings.