By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer
City Council adopted an ordinance, introduced by Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz, that increased the amount of the bid from Millstone Management Group, Incorporated, after costs increased for the Senior Center project. They adopted the legislation 6-0, with Ward 5 Council Representative Heidi Webber absent from the December 5 City Council meeting.
The new legislation increased the not-to-exceed amount from $733,810 to $807,191, by including a contingency that had not been included previously, according to Mayor Antoskiewicz. He said that as the demolition was taking place, the contractor ran into a few things. “When they were taking a wall down for the café, they found all the electrical lines for the building. They were going to put an I-beam up there to protect them, then we had to re-do the front. They also separated electrical panels in order to split the City’s portion from the school’s portion. I wanted them to separate the electrical, so there wouldn’t be any question with the schools,” said Antoskiewicz. He said that even with the increased amount, it still puts us under the amount of money we allotted for the Senior Center. “I felt good about that.”
North Royalton Law Director Tom Kelly said that outside council for the project recommended a couple of things be included regarding the architect, with changes to work into the bids and that the City’s new Assistant Law Director and Engineer did not think it would be a problem at the time. “There are things that happen when you do a remodel, when you open a wall or a floor and the item then needs to be addressed. “Although most of the jobs have a contingency, the architect didn’t think the City needed it,” said Kelly.
The city moved the project forward last October, after several rounds of bidding. The proposed Senior Center will be located at the old Royal View School property, utilizing a portion of the building. North Royalton City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance at its October 1 meeting that accepted the bid of Millstone Management Group, Incorporated for the construction of the project. The bid of $733,810.00 was accepted as the lowest and best bid.
In October, 2023, representatives from Makovich and Pusti Architects gave a preliminary presentation to City Council regarding the potential of the upcoming Senior Center and their design process. Earlier last year, the City hired the Berea architectural firm for the Senior Center Project in the hopes of transforming a portion of the former Royal View Elementary School at 13220 Ridge Road into a city senior center. In 2021, Royal View, Valley Vista and Albion elementary schools were replaced with the opening of North Royalton Elementary School on State Road. The proposed Senior Center would take about 9,000 square feet of the 48,000+ square foot facility.
On July 16, the North Royalton City Council adopted legislation that rejected the bids for the Senior Center project, which were opened in early July. According to Antoskiewicz, all three bids received for the project exceeded the 20% allotment for the project and had to be tossed out, according to state law. The Mayor then rebid the project.
Both, the City and school district have secured an agreement to make the transformation. The agreement in the ordinance will be in effect for twenty-five years. At that point, in 2049, the agreement would renew every year until either the City, or school district chooses to end it. The agreement would have the City pay $1 per year for the interior space and about 2,000 square feet of outdoor space. The City would be responsible for maintenance and cleaning of their portion, as well as for their portion of the cost of utilities, such as sewer, water and electricity.
The preliminary design includes the main entrance to the building, with a patio off to the east side, with the thought of providing an inviting place for seniors. It also showed a little café off the main entrance, unisex rest rooms, a multi-purpose room, which was once the gymnasium, kitchen, craft/game rooms and a reconfiguration of the existing offices.
The demolition of the project began in late October. At that time, Antoskiewicz said that the city is looking at the end of March, 2025 to complete the project. Now that the demolition is completed, the framing will begin and the crew is hoping to complete the outside portion of the project, which is weather dependent. Initially, the center was anticipated to open in March. With the changes, that has now been pushed forward, toward the end of April. Antoskiewicz said that the school district is planning to repave the parking lot, which will be dependent upon when the asphalt plants open. “I’m not going to open it until we have good weather,” said Antoskiewicz, “We’ll pick a date once we get closer.”