The projected $10 million to $12 million cost to build a public safety complex in West Brookfield was a shock to officials.
In the past the town has recommended not exceeding $2.5 million to $3 million to build a new police station or fire station, or to renovate an existing building.
That edict followed voters’ defeat of a request in 2005 to spend $4.8 million to buy the former Brookfield Machine Co. at Central and Front streets for conversion to a police station. Years before that, the town turned down an opportunity to purchase a former car dealership site on Route 9 for public safety use.
Curtis A. Edgin of Caolo & Bieniek Associates Inc. in Chicopee, the company hired to review prospective sites, provided the $10 million to $12 million proposal. He said the actual construction cost for a combination police and fire station on Wigwam Road is a lot lower.
“There’s a lot of caveats to that $10 million to $12 million,” Mr. Edgin said, “but the Wigwam construction number is really $8.4 million and that’s on the large side. We think that there are some savings that can be achieved there.”
The overall higher cost takes into account furnishings and equipment, site work including ledge removal, and a 10 percent budget contingency.
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