Columbia County approves final costs for Performing Arts Center

The cost and the construction time increased for the Columbia County Performing Arts Center, but local leaders consider it worth every penny.

The Columbia County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved contract changes that added $657,389.40 and 177 days to the final year of the arts center project.

“This was a complex building. It’s the largest single vertical project the county has ever done, and it’s the crown jewel of the county,” County Manager Scott Johnson said.

The arts center’s final price tag: $33,431,818.24.

“As someone who’s been involved in this project since day one, we were told that it would never, never get anywhere near the amount that it came in, and for the fact that’s its within 10% of the original contract sum, with all the change orders we made, we’re happy with the product,” Johnson said.

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Change orders – contract alterations that change a contractor’s duties – are common in construction projects. Features of a building sometimes are added or changed.

Other cost increases aren’t so common. Direct costs incurred by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as material delays and absent laborers, cost the project an extra $93,221.15, according to the county’s list of 83 change order proposals.

At the last meeting of the county’s Public Works and Engineer Services Committee, “it was asked that the change order be brought to debate tonight, just to give more time to look at it,” Deputy County Manager Glenn Kennedy said Tuesday.

Excluding COVID-related expenses, the costliest change order was $73,731.58 to change some of the building’s utility configurations to accommodate bar equipment.

“Concessions equipment, for example, was provided by us,” said Steven Prather, Columbia County’s director of facilities design and construction. “We tried our best early on to coordinate the equipment with the provisions that were provided in the contract. Of course, they didn’t line up exactly, so multiple changes for that, for plumbing and electrical."

The smallest expense was $161.25 for re-inspecting fire alarms that initially didn’t pass the required inspection.

The county broke ground on the arts center in February 2018 and initially expected completion in 2020. Officials cut the ribbon officially opening the center in May 2021.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Performing Arts Center: Columbia County approves final costs