$ 2.9 Million?

That's a joke!

Must asbestos in the building, and lots of it to get to 2.9 million!

"Estimates peg the cost of debris removal AND RE-CONSTRUCTION to be $2.9 million dollars."

One wing is close to 250 feet long and let us say about 40+ feet wide and two storeys high. So, about 20,000 sf. @$100/sf = $2million, plus removal of debris + some renovations in adjacent areas for smoke damage .. ???

Nothing wrong with $2.9 million at all.

So how come the Backpacker luxury condo retrofit for the homeless is supposed to cost over $8 million? It's about the same number of rooms as they're rebuilding at 108 Mile, yet an extra $5 million???

Could it be that Rich Coleman, the minister responsible, is from Langley and so is the contractor that won the award? Nothing weird about that I guess.

The Friendship Centre has 30 units which appear to include bachelor and one bedroom unit layouts plus some other spaces such as office(s).

$4 million was split between the feds and province at the outset in 2003.

When the project was ready to be built in early 2008 it was $6.1

Then the feds wanted it to be a LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building. Well, now we are into buying a BMW rather than a Ford. Just the certification process itself is into the $100ds of thousand of dollars is my understanding, let alone the building qulity dealing with energy saving devices and "green" materials.

So it went up to $8.1 million.

The savings over 10 or 20 years .... its mostly a bean counter's smoke and mirrors calculation.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080916151808/local/news/friendship-lodge-price-hits-$8.1m.html

Some of the comments on these forums, while providing entertainment, are not the best method to get the correct information on a topic. Of course most are just opinions, and not based on specific knowledge.

Can I make a small correction, gus, with regards to your estimate of construction costs? $100.00/sf is actually quite low now. If you were to ask the people who are building the new Sandman out along #16, they would tell you the price for hotel construction is closer to $200/sf, with the addition of amenities, such as pool, restaurant, lounge areas, etc.

I agree with you though, there's nothing wrong at all with that $2.9 million cost.

As far as the new Friendship Lodge, I'm not too sure, but with the mechanical and electrical systems, and other parts of the building process that are changed/added to comply with LEED certification, that cost can quickly go to $300-$350/sf. Of course the economies of scale would have kept those costs down, but I understand the building is that size because that's all that would fit on the lot.

I think some of the people who pooh-pooh these things, and say how expensive they are, they have lost touch with the cost of construction nowadays. Of course, the quality is much better now than what was built 30 or 50 or more years ago. And much more complex. Just look at how many electrical circuits your new house has, and compare it to what a 50 year old house has. That's just one thing, anybody feel free to ask me for more examples, I won't bore everybody here.