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Receive an update on the Fire House Theatre Project.
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BACKGROUND:
On April 7th, City Council was briefed on the Firehouse Theatre project related to the group's request of $103,710 for air conditioning (HVAC), audience risers, restroom, and facade improvements at their leased 2535 Valley View Lane city facility (formerly Fire Station No. 1). At this meeting Council directed staff to include this amount in the mid-year amended budget which was approved April 27th along with an additional $50,000 for a required fire sprinkler system. Councilwoman Ana Reyes also asked that staff conduct additional analyses to determine the steps necessary to bring the building up to current building code standards.
This facility was built in 1959 as a fire station and in early 2000, was determined to be obsolete as a city facility. In 2009, voters approved bonds for the new fire station and in 2010 these bonds were issued to provide for construction. In 2011, a major storm damaged the roofs of many city facilities including this one but since the building was scheduled for demolition, the insurance proceeds for this roof were used to provide improvements on other city facility roofs. In 2012, the new fire station opened. Subsequent to this opening, the Firehouse Theatre group approached Council about the possibility of using the old fire station building, in its current state, as a venue for theater performances.
After the April 7th Council meeting, staff reviewed cost estimates provided by the Firehouse Theatre group and met with the contractors that provided those estimates. Additionally, staff requested quotes from local vendors that specialize in commercial projects. The attached spreadsheet compares this information and the following gives a brief summary of the differences and installation timing.
HVAC (3 months including Council approval unless declared an emergency)
The Firehouse Theatre estimate of $28,515 was from a residential HVAC contractor b...
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