Hancher, music and studio arts replacement estimated at $387 million

AMES - There is some public frustration with the progress of flood recovery at the University of Iowa, one state regent said Thursday, but UI officials said they took a major step this month by sending to government agencies detailed budget projections totaling $387 million for three key building replacements.

Officials are about six months into the design process for the replacement of Hancher Auditorium, the School of Music and Studio Arts, which were among the more than 20 UI facilities damaged in the June 2008 flood. They expect to bring designs and more detailed budgets on the three projects to the regents for approval sometime next fall, UI officials said. It will still be several years before the new facilities open.

“We're coming up on three years. There's no foundations, we're heating Hancher,” Regent Jack Evans, of Cedar Rapids, said of the public concerns he hears. “There's a lot of people watching. I'd be remiss if I didn't relay that to you, because I feel that's a general feeling out there right now from the state.”

Evans also is a member of The Gazette board of directors.

Regents President David Miles said he shares the frustration about the lengthy recovery process, but he understands UI leaders are working within the Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines and that they are replacing complicated facilities.

“We can only operate on a temporary basis for so long,” Miles, of Dallas Center, said.

Doug True, UI senior vice president for finance, said not a day goes by that officials aren't working on flood recovery.

“We have a greater sense of urgency. I know the state homeland security does as well,” True said. “It is extremely complicated.”

UI officials on April 7 sent a report to Iowa Homeland Security, who in turn sent it on to FEMA, with newly updated cost estimates for replacing three facilities: Hancher, the School of Music and Studio Arts, True told the regents Thursday.

The total estimated cost to replace the three buildings is $387 million: $161 for Hancher, $148 million for School of Music and $78 million for Studio Arts.

That's an increase from the initial estimates made in 2009, when UI officials projected replacing the three facilities may cost $276 million for Hancher Voxman Clapp and about $60 million for Studio Arts.

The increase in projected costs is due to several factors, UI officials said Thursday.

When that $276 million estimate was made, officials had no cost predictions on splitting the Hancher Voxman Clapp complex into two separate sites, which they later decided to do and FEMA approved. That increased the costs, officials said, because two sites requires more site work, two architects, two mechanical systems, and so forth. Prices of land acquisition for the School of Music and Studio Arts replacements also played a role in the higher estimates, officials said. Also, original estimates were made before a great deal of planning on the projects had happened, they said.

And the new updated estimates from this month may change again as the plans are fleshed out and details become finalized, officials said.

Regarding the $387 million estimate for replacement of the three facilities, True said that's the amount of money UI officials believe they are eligible for under FEMA's 90 percent grant program.

“The costs we believe FEMA would look at us and say these are eligible costs for replacement and meeting codes and standards,” True said.

That's a fraction of the total expected flood damage and recovery costs on the UI campus, which UI President Sally Mason recently said could approach $1 billion.

In addition, there are $142 million in “aspirational costs” that were included in the April 7 budget report to Homeland Security and FEMA, True said. Those costs are things that faculty in the art and music programs and Hancher officials would like to see in the new facilities, but those costs are not, in the judgment of UI officials, eligible for FEMA replacement coverage and “not one dollar” of that has been approved by the university for inclusion, True said. Depending on what FEMA approves for funding, officials must prioritize what they want, True said.

That additional $142 million would cover things such as making the replacement facilities larger than the previous buildings or bringing things up to “2015,” more modern standards, Rod Lehnertz, UI director of planning, design and construction, said.