The vacant Maranatha Family Center in Warnerville probably won’t be Cobleskill-Rich-mondville’s new school bus garage.
Although the school board will make the final decision in March, a study indicates the giant gym needs too much work––and at too great a cost.
“I don’t see any way we can do this,” said Superintendent Carl Mummenthey.
Board President Bruce Tryon agreed, adding that the study “clearly demonstrated that the building was not suitable” for the bus complex.
School officials had been optimistic in June when C-R first floated the idea of buying Maranatha to replace the deteriorating bus garage on Elm Street.
But the study, done by architects and engineers from CSArch and Lamont Engineers, among others, pointed out problems.
One was the “growth of mold along many of the wall surfaces, the ceilings, and the floors throughout the building,” the study reports.
Also, C-R needs 20,000 to 30,000 square feet for a garage; Maranatha is 62,000 square feet.
“We had hoped to take advantage of partition walls, but we would have had to tear much of them out and also move plumbing and stairs,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
Renovations would also need to reinforce concrete floors to support buses and a lift.
The New York Business Development Corporation owns Maranatha, and the property is being marketed by CBRE (See related story.).
Back in June, the asking price was $1.595 million. The price now is $950,000.
But even with a lower asking price, the entire project would be expensive. The study estimates renovations at a little more than $8 million.
Although that cost isn’t exorbitant for a new bus garage, state aid would cover only 54 percent of the expense. “I can’t bill taxpayers for 46 percent of the cost,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
Finally, if C-R bought Maranatha, the property would no longer be taxed.
“We would have to have a real compelling reason to take it off the tax rolls,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
“It would impact the county, town and school.”
With Maranatha a very unlikely option, C-R will look at available property; for a new facility, state aid would pay 78 percent of the cost, a much higher rate than Maranatha renovations.
The feasibility study found two recently-built bus garages in other school districts. One cost $7.2 million, the other, $7.7 million.
C-R will also investigate renovating the current garage.
Built around 1960, the garage needs room for parts storage, a larger break room, handicapped-accessible bathrooms and more parking.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s worked for us for almost 60 years,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
Because the garage property runs up a hill in back, the site doesn’t lend itself to expansion.
“I hate to say we’re back to square one, but we really are,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
C-R’s Facilities Committee, with members from the school board, staff and community, helped with the study.
“I commend Carl and the committee for their exhaustive research,” Mr. Tryon said.