Ranch supervisors plan for maintenance facility

Initial estimates for the construction of a new maintenance facility for Lakewood Ranch Town Hall's operations department left supervisors on the Lakewood Ranch Inter-District Authority Board balking this morning.

Total costs, including engineering and other services, as well construction, are estimated at about $2.1 million.

Working with the architect and engineer, Town Hall officials already have slashed about $1 million in costs from the proposal, Town Hall Executive Director Eva Rey said.

Supervisors said they still were uncomfortable with the cost of the project, but do not want to compromise its functionality. Instead, they asked staff to continue to work on potential cost savings and also provide cost comparisons to similar buildings in the county.

"We want to get the best result for what we spend our money on," IDA Chairman Tom Green said.

Engineer Chris Sharek, of Atkins, who made the presentation, likely will make presentations to Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 1, 2, 4 and 5 boards later this month.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].