Council Rock Moving Toward Full Renovation Of Chancellor Center

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — The fate of the historic Chancellor Center is much clearer following the November Council Rock School Board meeting.

At the meeting, the school board took the first step toward a full renovation of the aging circa 1871 Newtown Borough landmark at a cost currently estimated at around $18.4 million.

The board voted to hire an architect and a project manager to design the building for an $18.4 million renovation, with the caveat that if issues are found during the process that increase the price considerably, the school board would take another look at the project.

The board had also considered two lower-cost options. The cheapest option - $8.6 million - would include abatement of the water issues, replacement of the HVAC system, and other work. The second option - at $9.9 million - included all the work in option one plus renovations from the capital improvement plan.

The district’s administration recommended the full renovation, which included the least amount of disruption and ensured that the building would last another 20 years without the need for major work.

In two subsequent motions, the board voted unanimously to hire two firms at a cost of $1.3 million to design and manage the project, which includes installation of a new HVAC system, adding a sprinkler system, addressing water infiltration issues in the basement, remediation, installing new walls, ceilings and flooring, adding new LED lighting, and repaving the parking lot and improving lighting.

“Every year, the more we wait, the more expensive it gets to fix things,” said board member Yota Palli. “Now we’re at a point where we have to fix things.

“We went out and had an appraisal done and we found out that the value of the building is negative. So you can’t really do anything with this building. You have to fix it.”

The Chancellor Center in Newtown Borough. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

She continued, “We cannot abandon a building that’s in the heart of Newtown. It is a historic building for us and for Council Rock. We looked at all the different options, and for me the full renovation will make this a workspace that can be utilized for the next 20 years. This option does not provide any luxury. It’s just the basic renovations to make this an efficient workspace.”

Board member Nicole Khan called the decision a “hard and challenging” one to make. “Spending $18 million is not an easy task. We’ve been discussing and debating this for a year and a half. We have exhausted all of our options, from appraisals to buying to selling to renovations to renting to adding to an existing structure.

“We have gone through a rigorous, thorough and deliberate exploration of the future of Chancellor Center,” said Khan. “We now have to decide to move forward.”

Board member Joseph Hidalgo added, “From a dollar standpoint, even though it seems like a lot of money, it’s going to cost us more to relocate the administration. I look at this as a temporary fix. If we get 20 years out of it, that would be great.”

Board members Bob Hickey and Michael Roosevelt voted against designing for the full renovation option, favoring two lower-cost options.

“This building has a rich history to this district, to this county and to this country,” said Roosevelt. “This is a beautiful building. It is historic. This building does need to be repaired but we’re not in the historic preservation business. I support options one and two, which resolve some of the major issues that have come up, which are the abatement of the water issue and replacement of the HVAC. I have a hard time supporting option three (full renovation).”

Boyle Construction will oversee the project as the construction manager, while Marotta/Main will provide architectural and design services.

The district has spent several years investigating the possibility of relocating its administrative offices, including numerous options - renting a building, buying a building, renovating Richboro Middle School or another district building.

“We brought those options forward and what we saw for the most part that all those options were more expensive than renovating the Chancellor Center,” said the district's business manager, Tony Rapp.

In June, the district’s facilities committee directed the administration to make a request for proposals for an architect and a construction manager for the Chancellor Center based on three options.

Working with Boyle and Marotta/Main, the district developed three options ranging from a low of $7.8 million to create a “warm, safe, and dry” space, to a high of $18.3 million for a full renovation of the 35,000-square-foot building.

“We’re not talking about a renovation here where we’re going to tear up the building and put in a Taj Mahal. We’re looking for the ability to do things right one time so it doesn’t have to be done again for a long time. We’re looking to make it affordable and usable for the future. The 20-year use of this building for renovation is better than coming back in five or ten years and working on it from a cost perspective.”

Rapp added, “This administration is extremely hesitant to spend any money on an administration building unless we have to, and we have to. Everybody in the community and in this administration feels we shouldn’t spend money on this, but we have to. And because we have to, let’s do it right the first time so we don’t have to think about spending money on the administration building other than maintenance and general upkeep for a long time.”

The school district had applied for several federal grants to help fund the project. The grants, however, don’t appear likely to be funded, Rapp told the board.

“We will have the opportunity to apply again for this next year,” he said.

The building, which has served as the district’s administrative headquarters for decades, holds a special place in the hearts of many in the borough and the school district.

The building had once served as the community’s high school and elementary school. Today it houses the district’s administrative offices.

As part of a comprehensive review of the school district’s facilities master plan, the school board’s facilities committee has been discussing how to address the aging building while balancing it with the district’s other capital needs and its “Students First” mission.