Latest Version of Municipal Complex Priced at $13.5 Million

Moorestown’s still at least two to three months away from shovels in the ground, but the municipal complex project——is as close to construction as it’s ever been.

Rick Ragan, principal for architectural firm Ragan Design Group, presented township council with a 90 percent estimate of the project Tuesday, with a price tag of around $13.5 million-$14 million.

The initial estimate provided by engineers was slightly more than $14 million, but Ragan said he and his partners are confident they can trim about $600,000 from that to bring it down to roughly $13.5 million, and possibly less.

“The cost estimate included a few thing we thought were out of line,” said Ragan. “We have some suggestions we are going to use to see if we can reduce the cost.”

There are still some loose ends, so council didn’t take any action Tuesday. But township manager Scott Carew suggested council begin discussing the possibility of bonding for the project now, before putting it out to bid.

“We want to make sure that the good bidders that are out there know the township’s serious about this project,” he said, because that commitment will lead to more and better bids.

The members of council, though not ready to commit to bonding yet, indicated they were comfortable moving forward with that discussion.

Carew said the project task force—a blend of township officials and hired professionals—would meet this week to “see if we can take any bells and whistles out of the project (to reduce the cost). . (We can) spend another week or two, or three, to make sure we get things right … This team’s been very good at turning over every rock to make sure there’s nothing we’re missing.”

Ragan set the target date to go out to bid sometime in the third or fourth week of August, with bids due back Oct. 3, meaning the earliest council could award a bid would be at its Oct. 15 meeting.

One of the aforementioned loose ends, that has slightly delayed the project timeline, was the discovery of several feet of poor soil conditions in the ground where the complex is set to be built.

Architect Dan Nichols said this is due to prior construction—before even the previous town hall. Nichols said buildings on the site, primarily residences, were torn down and the basements filled with debris.

The contractors who built (AKA the Malcolm Wells town hall) got around this by just digging down deeper into the ground and putting down a thick layer of stone, Ragan explained. But he said his firm will have to get a bit more creative because the new 45,000-square-foot complex is bigger and heavier—not least of all because it’ll holds thousands and thousands of library books—and needs a stronger foundation.

Ragan mentioned a process known as “rapid impact compaction,” in which the soil is tamped down to increase density, as the most ideal solution. He said the process would add roughly $100,000-$200,000 to the project cost, and would take two to three weeks.

The price tag was also hiked up slightly because the county planning board ruled the township would have to replace the curbing and sidewalks along Church Street, which Ragan said they'd hoped to avoid since the project doesn't technically touch those areas.

He also noted the county repaved that section of North Church Street a couple years ago, but didn't replace the curbing and sidewalks, which are in the county's right-of-way. 

"The county didn't find it necessary to replace it ... Why should we just have to categorically rip up the curb and sidewalks?" Ragan said. "The county could've paid for it, but they didn't. They're trying to get you to pay for it ... It's unfair, is what I'm saying."

Ragan said the replacement of the curb and sidewalk adds around $80,000 to the project cost. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, resident Roger Boyell urged Ragan and the township to do everything possible to make sure as many contractors were notified of the project’s imminent bidding as possible—particularly those who had expressed interest in the previous iteration of town hall.

“There are a lot of people waiting for this opportunity,” Boyell said. “Tell the people. Raise the flag, ‘We’re doing it!’”