TITLE
Title
ACTIONS TO CONTINUE RESTORATION FOR THE KATIE S. CASHION CENTER
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Eric Hilton (Facilities)
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BACKGROUND
Background
The Katie S. Cashion facility located at 201 S. Greene St sustained significant damage due to fire on July 6th, 2025. In the following months, the facility has been undergoing remediation and stabilization to prepare the site for restoration of the interior. The operational needs of the County rank the Family Justice Center (FJC) as the primary department needing to return to the building. Human Resources and Finance are operating adequately in their temporary locations, however the FJC would benefit from quickly returning to the Cashion Building. This item includes funding to complete repairs to the first and second floors in addition to awarding a contract to begin design on the restoration of the remainder of the building. The third floor will be a complete rebuild, the interior walls and ceiling were removed during stabilization. The basement is lower priority, having sustained minimal damage and not being a critical space for County operations.
1) At the July 17, 2025 Board of Commissioner Meeting, the Board authorized a contract with Sasser Restoration to begin the stabilization work (2025-300). As that work has continued, including structural, building contents, and file cleaning, the final estimates for stabilization total $2,900,000, resulting in the need to amend the contract with Sasser by $1,900,000. This is offset by anticipated insurance proceeds.
2) At the August 7, 2025 Board of Commissioner meeting, staff were authorized by the Board to pursue the design-build delivery method for the restoration project (2025-346). Staff released a Request for Qualifications Bid Number 20277 on August 12, 2025 soliciting packages from design-build firms. Proposals were due on August 28, 2025. The County received six responses. The responses were scored using the following criteria:
1. Experience with Public Sector Design-Build project delivery
2. Experience renovating space in an occupied building
3. Familiarity with and proximity to the project site
4. Ability to execute work of comparable size
5. Past performance engaging historically under-utilized businesses
6. Adherence to cost and schedule on previous projects
Holt Brothers Construction from Raleigh was selected by the panel as the most qualified firm based on their work with insurance claims on past projects, ability to delivery design-build projects in the public sector and adherence to budget and schedule based on past references. Holt Brothers Construction is partnering with Clearscapes Architecture from Durham for the design work. Holt Brothers and Clearscapes have done numerous projects together, and demonstrated a well-qualified approach for the project's completion. Both Holt Brothers and Clearscapes are certified HUB firms with a track record of engaging subcontractors who are also HUB-certified firms.
Holt Brothers Construction has provided a pricing proposal to complete the design and pre-construction of the project. This effort will produce a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) to complete the construction, which will be brought back to the Board for approval as a change-order. The initial contract also covers a phased design approach to allow the building to be re-occupied as quickly as possible to restore the building to operation. Funding is also included to work with the County to provide preconstruction cost estimates for discussions with the insurance company as the claim is processed.
Holt Brothers Construction provided a pricing proposal in the amount of $652,448 to conduct the initial design and bidding phase of the project.
3) Parallel to the design-build efforts, staff will work internally and with subcontractors on the restoration of the first and second floors for the FJC. The restoration project ordinance request includes funding for the first and second floor restoration. The items below cover code-required upgrade items for electrical and fire walls, ceiling tile replacement, ceiling grid repair, painting, carpet repairs as needed and replacement of furnishings that were disposed of due to smoke damage. Following is a summary of the estimated costs totaling $871,920.
IT Equipment $130,000
Ceiling repair materials $24,000
Painting $116,400
Auditorium Walls $101,000
Flooring $200,000
Furnishings $259,000
Contingency (5%) $41,520
Total $871,920
The total requested budget amendment of $3,424,368 will be budgeted in the internal service fund to account for insurance reimbursement. Should insurance not cover costs associated with this work, staff will bring back a budget amendment with identified other funding sources.
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BUDGET IMPACT
Budget Impact
Internal Service Fund
$3,424,368 Increase in revenue appropriation to User Changes (Insurance)
$3,424,368 Increase in expense appropriation to Health Care Plan & Risk Retention - Administration, Liability, Property & Workers' Compensation
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Approve, in substantial form, the award of a Design-Build Contract to the Holt Brothers Construction in the amount of $652,448 and authorize staff to take the necessary measures to execute this contract; Amend the contract and increase the award by $1,900,000 with Sasser Restoration for stabilization services needed at 201 S. Greene Street and; and approve a budget amendment in the amount of $3,424,368 to Health Care Plan & Risk Retention - Administration, Liability, Property & Workers' Compensation, funded with User Charges.
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