Meeting House to Be Improved

The Plan

Planning is underway for improvements in the Meeting House approved by the congregation in February 2006. A new addition on the front of the present building will provide a new entrance and entry hall, enlarged Commons, a new nursery, and two classroom/meeting rooms on the lower level, along with related facilities such as restrooms. The present restrooms and kitchen will be thoroughly renovated and the present nursery converted to office space.

Additional changes included in the original design have been postponed because of the estimated costs. The full plan (Phases I, II, and III) would include offices for Music Director and Religious Education (now housed in Hollin Hall), a large Gathering Room, and two or three more classrooms.

The County Site Plan (warning: file is over 4MB and can take a long time to download) is available for viewing. Note, this is a very dense document - use the Zoom feature in Adobe to see areas of interest more clearly.

Financing

The architectural firm of Cole & Denny is currently preparing detailed construction drawings. When they are completed, bids will be invited from contractors. The total cost of the project, including architect's fees of approximately $300,000, is expected to be about $2,000,000 but the exact cost cannot be known until actual bids are received.

A capital campaign conducted in fall 2004 produced pledges totaling about $1,270,000. Part of this amount (less than $300,000) was used to repay a loan arranged earlier for renovation and improvement of Hollin Hall. The congregation is now debt free, with cash or pledges that will help pay a significant share of the cost of the new construction. Of the $1,300,000 pledged, about $920,000 has been collected so far.

Key Events

The architecture firm Cole & Denny is overseeing the project. The next key event, following submission of all applications and renderings late in this year, is approval of the project by Fairfax County. Many agencies of the county are involved in this process; completion of the approval process is expected in early 2008.

The Board of Trustees decided in mid 2007 to place a hold on plans to solicit bids and begin construction, as the church goes through its transition with a new settled minister and assesses the best way forward for financing the project. The Board has established benchmarks indicating sound financial health of the church, with the expectation that as those indicators are clearly in an acceptable zone and with positive trends in 2008-2009, construction will proceed and we will begin planning for still further work (Phase III) in the out years.

Information

For information about any aspect of the project, contact the Board of Trustees.