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Infographic courtesy of Tristan Makaroff
Costs are going up. Whether it’s the grocery store bill, buying a house, or filling the gas tank, there’s no denying that the price of essential goods and services is way higher now than several years ago. For many municipalities, constructing new buildings and facilities is essential to improving the quality of life in their communities. However, construction costs are currently sky-high, putting a major strain on local government budgets.
The Mortenson Construction Cost Index, which tracks non-residential construction costs, found that construction costs were 35 percent higher in the spring of 2023 when compared with 2019. With such a massive spike in construction costs in a short period, local government leaders may want to know how much it costs to construct new municipal buildings and facilities. While not exhaustive, this article will give ballpark estimates of how much it costs to construct select municipal facilities, along with certain challenges associated with the construction process.
On any given Saturday in America, ballfields and gyms are packed with young athletes honing their crafts in the hopes of becoming the next LeBron, Messi, or Brady. And even more are playing to spend time with friends, get in shape, and enjoy all the benefits of sports and recreation. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 61.1 percent of children between the age of 6-17 participate in at least one team sport. With that many children playing sports, it’s critical for municipalities to develop sports facilities to meet the demand.
According to data provided by The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), a company that has partnered with over 2,000 communities to plan, develop, and operate sports, recreation, aquatics, and event venues, it costs roughly $300-350 per square foot to develop an indoor tournament-ready venue (eight or more courts, 150,000-200,000 square feet, on average). The total cost for a venue of that size can range between $45-70 million. Dan Morton, Vice President of Pre-Development Services for SFC, noted that these numbers can vary from project to project and are made up of land or real estate acquisition costs, soft costs (fees for design, engineering, civil, architectural, construction management, procurement, owner’s representation, permitting and inspections) construction costs, fixtures, furnishings, and equipment costs (FF&E), sports equipment, and pre-opening operational soft costs.
Morton went on to say that a site’s location will also dictate the overall cost of development. Areas with a high population density or environmental considerations such as brownfield designation will drive development costs. Additionally, inflation and supply chain disruptions have led to an average 50-60 percent increase in overall development costs, according to Morton.
In terms of baseball and softball complexes, SFC data shows that the cost per diamond for a turf field (400 square feet) is $3.4-4.6 million. For a natural grass field of the same dimensions, it’s $2.5-3.4 million. A 10-field baseball or softball complex has an estimated cost range of $25-46 million.
For multipurpose fields (soccer, lacrosse, or football), SFC data shows that the cost per turf field is $2.6-3.6 million with natural grass fields costing $1.8-2.5 million. The overall cost for this type of complex ranges from $18-36 million for a 10-field complex.
Morton notes that these cost-per-field ranges include fields, site development, parking, and support buildings but don’t include land acquisition and soft costs for operations.
While slower to recover than the youth sports segment, an increasing amount of people are taking to the road to attend business meetings, conferences, and trade shows.
According to a report from Statista, 41,000 U.S. events are registered on the event platform 10times.com. And cities large and small are either developing or renovating their venues to meet the growing demand. We’ve listed a couple of examples below to highlight the costs involved in convention center projects.
Dallas, Texas, plans to replace their old convention center with a new, 2.5 million square foot building with an estimated cost of $3.7 billion or roughly $1,120 per square foot. The new convention center will include an outdoor park and 2,000 parking spaces, along with a ballroom, a food hall, meeting rooms, and convention space.
The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, is slated for expansion, which will include a 200,000-square- foot multipurpose venue, 60,000 square feet of meeting room space, a flexible 80,000-square-foot ballroom, and various other upgrades. The 2020 estimate for the renovation was $605 million. However, the project was put on hold. Recently, the Orlando Business Journal reported that the cost could total up to $740 million due to inflation.
An August 2022 study analyzing the expected cost of a proposed convention center expansion in Vancouver, Washington, found that a 122,000-square-foot expansion would cost roughly $68 million, totaling just over $550 per square foot. Other costs, like a below-grade parking garage, additional renovations, site work, and a hotel would bring the total cost up to $164 million, or $615 per square foot.
While not as sexy as sports complexes or convention centers, water and wastewater treatment facilities are critical infrastructure, ensuring safe drinking water and maintaining a high quality of life for residents. The information below is especially critical for civic leaders who are looking to support the demands of growing populations. Kevin Laird, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC), an architecture and engineering firm, advises communities to be proactive, instead of reactive, in planning for the construction of new water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities due to the cost associated with these projects. He notes that, due to the high construction cost, he sees more regional treatment facilities than in previous years. These regional treatment facilities have funding from multiple cities, meaning each municipality shares the construction cost.
According to data from GMC, a brand-new water plant ranges from $8-15 a gallon. A plant treating 10 million gallons daily costs between $80-150 million. Wastewater plants range between $15-25 a gallon, making the cost range for this type of facility between $50-80 million.
The public’s interest in parks was strong before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, during the time of forced isolation, even more people grew to appreciate greenspaces as it was one of the few places people could gather. This is reflected in a study from the National Recreation and Park Association in which 87 percent of survey respondents supported city and state government funding for parks, including their infrastructure, amenities, and programming.
When developing a new park, costs vary based on its amenities, location, and topography, among other factors.
An example of this process can be seen in Tracy, California, a city about 60 miles south of Sacramento. In October 2022, the community adopted the Tracy Citywide Parks, Recreation & Trails Master Plan Update.
The master plan provided estimated construction costs for a typical 5-acre (217,800 square foot) neighborhood park in Tracy. While costs in Tracy won’t translate equally to every city in the country, it will give local government leaders a ballpark estimate of how much it costs to build a park from scratch.
The total estimate for a 5-acre city park was $5.4 million with construction and other project costs. Of course, a park with numerous amenities will cost much more than a park with few features. Tracy estimated the cost of specific amenities at a sample 5-acre neighborhood park. In addition to site work, signage, and various project costs, major costs associated with each park are listed below:
Even with proper master planning, community buy-in, and an abundance of funding, some municipal facilities can be challenging to build.
Rick Piccolo, CEO of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, a small but growing alternative to larger airports in Tampa and Orlando, told Community Playmaker about some of the difficulties associated with constructing an airport. His airport has two runways, one totaling 9,500 feet and the other totaling 5,004 feet. It accommodates four and a half million passengers annually and takes up 1,102 acres. The original terminal was built in 1987 at nearly $70 million.
“I would say that to build this airport to replicate what we have here now is probably over a billion dollars. We have miles and miles of runway and taxiway. We have two runways. We have the terminal…to replicate this is at least a billion dollars if not two or three”, Piccolo said.
The costs of developing airports and their components are due to several factors unique to their construction. Runways are specialized surfaces that must withstand extreme temperatures and support the weight of a plane, which can exceed 100,000 pounds at landing, according to documentation from the Federal Aviation Administration. According to Airportwiz.com, a site dedicated to airport operations, the cost of an airport runway alone can range from $10-20 million per mile (5,280 feet) on average. The average runway is between 8,000-13,000 feet in length. Other cost factors include land acquisition and preparation, architect fees, construction and materials, and permitting costs.
In many cases, communities are choosing development over construction of new airports. At Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, a $200 million upgrade includes a five-gate terminal expansion, a new baggage screening system, new parking lots, a new ground transportation center, and a new cellphone lot.
By comparison, a $787 million expansion of Tampa International Airport (which is larger but still considered small in comparison to other international airports) will include a 585,000-square-foot domestic and international terminal with 16 new gates with new customs and security facilities, updated technologies for bag screening, gate check-in, and baggage processing, as well as a new outdoor terrace, concessions, and restrooms.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock by joyt
City halls have long been known as places where residents and officials conduct official city business. Utilities are paid, permits are applied for, and city council meetings are held in its confines. However, cities are reimagining the ways these facilities are serving the community, which along with the lingering impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the supply chain, is impacting costs.
“The overarching theme in the city halls that we’re designing today is city halls as community buildings,” said Amy Bell, Vice President of Georgia Architecture at Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC). These are government buildings and, of course, you have to pay bills, you have to get permits, and you have to do all the city business, but cities are really looking at the facility and the complex around the facility as a way to give back to the citizens.”
According to data from GMC and Bell, the average cost for developing a new city hall is between $350-500 per square foot, depending on the building’s amenities.
A great example of the expanded role of the city hall can be seen in GMC’s work in Chamblee, Georgia, a city 15 miles north of Atlanta. The nearly 30,000-square-foot city hall, completed in October of 2022 for $18 million, features a grand atrium area with modern accents that balance its brick exterior and expansive greenspaces that host the city’s summer concert series. The city hall also hosts meetings for local non-profit groups along with the typical city functions and concerts.
Libraries are transforming from their role as a place to get books into venues for learning about and utilizing new technologies, community gathering, and deep-dive research. It’s also becoming a symbol of equity in many communities as its resources are available to everyone regardless of socioeconomic status.
According to data from Library Systems & Services (LS&S), a company specializing in library operation and management services, library costs “can vary widely” depending on the development approach used. They offered a few examples of projects in California.
An LS&S official noted, “Moreno Valley’s approach of leasing and improving existing structures for small footprint facilities in strip malls has an upfront cost of $1.5-3 million. However, new construction for a fairly small library in Moorpark is $23 million.”
They added, “A multi-branch system that has an efficient building program can save costs when building multiple libraries over a compact time frame of 5 to 10 years. LEED or other sustainability features can increase upfront costs while significantly reducing operating costs. A new library in California could easily cost $40-50 million, and $100 million isn’t unheard of for a larger library.”
Another approach they are seeing is multi-branch building programs. In San Jose, California, new library facilities are being developed at 25-50 percent “less-than-market” through a standard approach to designing and construction. “They built a dozen branches that all looked cosmetically different but were essentially iterations on the same design,” according to LS&S officials.
Police and fire stations are essential to the public safety infrastructure of cities of all sizes. However, the approach to bringing them out of the ground differs. Let’s start with police stations. Aside from regional stations built to address a particular part of a city, central police stations are not built often and, in many communities, like in Tampa, Florida, for example, are among the oldest buildings in their area. In today’s construction environment, police stations can be quite expensive, which is part of the reason why they aren’t built often.
According to data from Levelset’s 2022 Guide to U.S. Building Commercial Construction Cost per Square Foot, the cost to develop a new police station is $580 per square foot on average. This can vary depending on the region of the country, details of the building site, and amenities.
For example, Milford, Delaware, recently completed a 30,000-square-foot facility for $17 million or $583.33 per square foot. In contrast, the renovation of the Phoenix Police Department’s headquarters is anticipated to cost $180 million for the 500,000-square-foot facility or $360 per square foot.
In fire station development, the goal is for sites to be integrated into as many areas as feasible to better ensure quick response to emergencies. As cities continue to grow, more fire stations are needed. Data compiled by Mitchell Associates Architects on 44 fire station construction projects in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut showed an average cost of $734 per square foot. The most expensive was a 22,000-square-foot facility in Nantucket, Massachusetts, equipped with apparatus bays, new dispatch and communications equipment, offices, and dormitory space for on-call firefighters, costing $18.7 million or $850 per square foot.
It’s clear that the cost to develop municipal facilities has risen sharply. Yet, facilities such as fire stations and water treatment plants are vital components of public safety. Parks and libraries enhance the quality of life for residents as does sports complexes and city halls. And as communities grow so does the need for these facilities. For civic leaders, it’s imperative to understand the costs of new facilities and use this information to plan for growth. Their ability to do so can ensure a bright path for their communities.
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