The Repurposing team (CRT) had a meeting at the Colliers International office in Vancouver recently. Terry Harrison, in her capacity as oversite for a number of United Church projects, brought us up to date and we met our new Development Manager Dea Knight and her assistants, Jill and Joanna.
There are actual wood walls beginning to rise above the concrete foundation at the east end of our building site and the visual progress, for those of us who drive by regularly, will be more noticeable now. The CRT felt confident and comfortable with their updates and now that we are moving up from the foundation stage, their biweekly visits to the site will facilitate the process and the timeline. We were happy to hear that without too many glitches we should be moving into our new church space in late summer of 2020. Reason for Celebration and reason for continued, active Praying, for this ever-expanding team of individuals who are working on our behalf.
This project was nailed down at the height of construction costs and broader realities such as interest rates, steel tariffs, over-building in the lower mainland and the Coquitlam City municipal processes have impacted the overall costs. BC Housing has been incredibly helpful with this project and Terry and her team at Colliers and VIA have been spending a great deal of time and energy to ensure this project continues on time and close to budget. Searching out Grant money because we are building affordable rental housing and ensuring that Building Supplies and Trades flow through the space in a well-choreographed dance that avoids costly delays are some examples of the “behind the scene” realities of this project.
We are grateful and “God is Good”.