July 13th, 2010
On August 29th, Woodlawn will celebrate a Groundbreaking event at 10:00 am Sunday morning. All adult, youth, and children are encouraged to participate in this event. There will be Sunday School for preschool children, but other age groups will be encouraged to take part in the Groundbreaking.
The timeline is for Flynn Construction to set up for their construction site early in September and start all the pre-construction work that includes new lines for water run-off and to start the demolition work. The goal will be to start building the new building sometime in October. Once the construction is started, it should only take 10 months to complete.
June 18th, 2010
On May 23, the church in an overwhelming majority, voted to move forward with our Imagine Building Campaign. This vote allows the church to enter into an agreement with Flynn Construction to build the new Worship Center. And, it gives the Finance Committee the authority to secure the necessary financing needed to start the project. The first week of September is the scheduled goal to begin the project.
There are several processes that need to be approved by the city before construction can begin. This includes a variance for the height of the tower, a zoning change, a re-subdivision of property, and a site plan filed with the city. Hopefully, all of these objectives will be accomplished in the next three months. The next meeting with the city is scheduled for June 14th with the purpose of receiving a variance for the height of the tower.
We have received $442,120.71 toward our Imagine Building Campaign. Our next milestone in our fundraising is $500,000. We hope to achieve this goal before we break ground on the project. Continue to pray for the Lord’s direction during this exciting time in the life of our church!
April 20th, 2010
The planning for the New Worship Center continues to progress. The church is in the process submitting different requests to the City. An application has been made to the Board of Adjustments for the city of Austin concerning the height of the building. Because the school next door is zoned as a single family home it limits the height of the new building and tower. Any other business would not have imposed these limitations even if they had the same zoning as the school. Therefore we will be asking for variance due to this hardship.
The church is also in the process of requesting a zoning change for the church and submitting a change in the property lines between the church and the church owned homes. The good news is that the neighborhood association has supported the changes made to the property lines and the new zoning for the church. The zoning change is needed so that the new building can be built. (Currently the church building exceeds the impervious coverage codes and needed a change in the zoning for any new construction that increases the size of the church.) The church is also in the process of filing for a new Site Development Plan with the city. All of these applications and filings need to be approved by the city before we can actually begin building the Worship Center.
The architects have finished 50% of the Construction Documents. Based on these documents Flynn Construction and the New Building Committee will review the estimated costs and determine alternative materials and design to reduce the overall cost of the project. When the Construction Documents are finished, Flynn Construction will begin the process of asking for bids from sub-contractors. After they receive all of their bids, the church will receive a Guaranteed Maximum Price from the contractors. This means that they guarantee that the cost of the new building will not exceed that amount.
On another note, the Finance Committee is starting the process of securing a Construction Loan. While money will be coming in during the next 3 years from the Imagine Pledge Campaign, and church owned homes will be sold, the construction loan will provide the necessary funds to cover any gap so that the project can be completed by September of 2011.
March 3rd, 2010
The “New Building Committee” has been busy over the last several months. They have been meeting with the architects to continue to design the new Worship Center and Atrium. They have also interviewed and selected Flynn Construction Incorporated to actually build the new worship building. Flynn and Heimsath Architects will be working with the church over the next few months to fine tune the drawings and to determine actual costs.
The design of the building has changed from the original drawings to have a more traditional church look. The architects have finished the Developmental Drawings are beginning on our Construction Documents. After the Construction Documents are finished, bids will go out to all the subcontractors. At that point, Flynn Construction will provide Woodlawn with a Guaranteed Maximum Price to build. It is still expected that the official groundbreaking event will occur in August with construction completed in July of 2011.
September 16th, 2009
We are excited about what’s next!