Galt Post Office renovation | completed

[rangersfan]

Borrowing costs add to Galt Post Office renovation price tag
October 21, 2014 | Chris Herhalt | The Record | LINK

CAMBRIDGE — Borrowing costs will push the price tag to design, renovate and expand the historic Old Post Office building in Galt into a library to more than $17 million by 2023, according to the city's 10-year capital forecast.

That figure is considerably higher than the $12.5-million figure city officials, councillors and Mayor Doug Craig have cited when discussing the project. It also excludes the $950,000 the city paid to buy the building in 2012.

The project will see the 127-year-old building become a multi-floor "library of the future," containing fewer traditional bookshelves and more space for sound recording, 3D printers, live performances, children's activities and a café.

Proponents of the project say it gives the Queen's Square Library branch a much-needed expansion while restoring the decaying stone work and rotting floorboards of a building designed by Thomas Fuller, the same architect behind Canada's Parliament buildings.

Craig has said repeatedly that the building's redevelopment is the key to attracting people, especially youth, to Galt's downtown, and reinforcing the city's commitment to heritage preservation.

But despite public concerns about what the finished building will or will not contain and how it will look, few of the seven people running to be Cambridge's next mayor said they would cancel the project.

When the project is fully paid off in 30 years, the cost of design and construction, including interest, will be approximately $19 million.

At a debate last week, only mayoral candidate Sardool Bhogal said he'd cancel the project if elected.

Fellow challenger Linda Whetham said she would pay only to restore the building to its former pristine state, sans library or café, and then sell it to a private developer.

"They're the ones who should be spending $11 million on it."

Sanda Hill said the city should have used a public-private partnership to finance the building's renovation.

Andrew Johnson said the city is in a "train has left the station situation" regarding the project, whose stated cost has grown from roughly $6 million to $12.5 million over the years as the planned footprint of the building grew.

Christine Rier, a supporter of the concept who has been following the project closely, said it's been hard to find out details about the renovation and expansion.

"It's just been difficult to get information," she said of her participation in information meetings about the project, adding members of the public "are not encouraged to ask questions" when the project is discussed.