Estimated costs have more than doubled for the construction the city of Bainbridge Island’s new public safety building.
According to a new report by the city’s consultants on the project, the new police station could cost more than $28 million. That means costs have climbed approximately 149 percent since 2014, when the city estimated the price tag for the project was $10.1 million.
That earlier estimate was made the year before city officials turned to Bainbridge voters for money to pay for the project. A bond request for $15 million for a new police station, proposed for just north of city hall, was soundly rejected by voters, however, in November 2015.
City council members will get a briefing next week on the new estimate, which was prepared by Coates Design Architects and McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie, Inc.
The council will get an overview of the new costs estimates — as well as potential layouts for a new building that would include a police station and court on property just east of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department’s Station 21 helipad on NE New Brooklyn Road — at its meeting Tuesday, Aug. 8.
The cost of the new public safety building now has a low estimate of $21 million and a high estimate of $28.4 million.
Both estimates are more than 140 percent higher than the city’s 2014 estimate.
How to pay for it remains a question.
With $2 million already set aside for the new police station in the city budget, the remaining cost is expected to come in between $19 million and $26 million.
City officials also expect to get $1 million from the expected sale of the property where the current police stations sits, at Winslow Way at Highway 305.
That would drop the financing costs for the new facility to $18 million to $25 million, according to the new Coates/MWL report.
If the city finances the project on a 20-year non-voted bond at 5 percent interest, the city will face an annual debt service cost between $1.3 million to $1.8 million.
Regardless, the final costs for the project are expected to be higher than those reflected in the new analysis.
The city does not own the 1.89-acre site along NE New Brooklyn Road where the police station could be built, and the new estimates do not include the cost of land acquisition, which is expected to run into the millions of dollars.
How much the facility will eventually cost is also largely dependent on whether it will include the city’s municipal court, as well as a firing range for police officers.
At next week’s meeting, council members are expected to be asked if the facility should be built as a one- or two-story building, and whether it should also include the court and firing range.
The firing range is expected to cost $2.3 million, and including the municipal court is estimated at $4.6 million.
Beyond the cost of land acquisition, the $28.4 million estimate also does not include other expected expenses.
Off-site development costs include the construction of a roundabout to handle traffic at NE New Brooklyn Road and Madison Avenue, at a cost of $518,000. Add to that, additional project development/soft costs pegged at $297,850.
Overall project development/soft costs in the new consultant report for the project have been estimated at 57.5 percent ($10.3 million) of the construction cost of $18 million.
