Construction set to begin on Cayucos Vets Hall renovation
It’s been a long wait, but construction on the approximately $9.5 million project to restore the Cayucos Vets Hall is due to start very soon, and the public’s invited to mark the success story at a 2 p.m. event at the site on Friday, Dec. 2 .
The iconic but wobbly structure at the base of the Cayucos Pier (which was itself restored in 2015), was deemed structurally unsound in 2016 and then red-tagged by the state fire marshal in 2021.
Getting the hall redone and safe to occupy has been an uphill fight ever since.
After some last-minute cost whittling through the county’s deductive-bid alternate process, Public Works officials were able to keep the final bid with contingencies from J.G. Contracting of Nipomo close to the original $9.5 million tab for construction without contingencies, even though the two bids being considered were submitted way back in June. Both were about $5 million higher than expected, which launched a dogged search for more money.
County supervisors unanimously approved J.G. Contracting’s low bid on Oct. 4.
As a county media release said, “Full rehabilitation of the facility and surrounding site will restore a central piece of Cayucos’ history and heartbeat of the community where residents and visitors have gathered for special events for many years.”
Some of the project supporters and governmental officials who’ve worked hard to raise the construction funds will be on hand Friday, including Supervisor Bruce Gibson, Kara Woodruff (senior policy adviser to state Sen. John Laird), director of county Public Works John Diodati and one of the main community fundraisers, Greg Bettencourt.
More fundraising ahead
Meanwhile, Bettencourt and others at the Restore Cayucos Vets Hall Committee are continuing their fundraising to “make sure the furnishings and the inside of the building will be as good as the new outside.”
The committee has raised more than $500,000 for the project since October 2021, and pledged $435,000 of that toward the building’s restoration construction.
The group said in a media release that it hopes to raise another $200,000 for such necessities as “an assisted listening system, portable stage, sound system, benches for the expanded deck, commercial microwave as well as tables and chairs to replace the very worn ones kept in storage for six years.”
To donate, go to Friday’s event or visit restorecayucosvetshall.org.
According to the website, the Cayucos Lions Club also raised about $100,000 with the stated purpose of helping furnish the hall when it’s completed. The money raised by the Restoration Committee will be used for furnishings as needed, making debt service easier, and increasing the likelihood of receiving additional grants.
While that club has managed the day-to-day operations of the hall for decades, the website says that after the building reopens, “San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation will manage reservations and receive rents. How the Lions or other community groups will be involved will be sorted out during the building process.”
Bettencourt said that to be at the construction starting gate after the long funding fight, “feels pretty unbelievable. It’s just been so long and the challenges, the hurdles have been numerous … all of them degrees of unique, from the location to the fact that the county doesn’t really own the building (the state does) but is responsible to fix it … to the pandemic and all its consequences, not the least of which is the cost and the fact that contractors are universally busy now.”
He also said the building is acknowledged as being historical but is not officially registered as such.
The building, formerly the Cass Warehouse, was constructed by Capt. James Cass in 1875 and, in recent years, the facility had been an important community and event center, although it’s been empty ever since it was deemed structurally unsound.
Bettencourt gave credit to many for getting the project across the fiscal finish line, but he doled out the most kudos to Gibson. “If it wasn’t for Bruce Gibson and county staff, our Vets Hall wouldn’t be getting rebuilt. He cobbled all this together, supporting the project, keeping it alive.”
In turn, Gibson said by phone that “I’m incredibly grateful and excited to see us on the threshold of constructing this project. It’s been a very long time coming, with a lot of twists and turns.”
He said the initial work will involve “lifting the building up, moving it off its current location, pouring a foundation … with the level to be raised about 2.5 feet, bringing the floor level up to the level of the pier. That will protect the vets hall from sea-level rise,” an issue of great concern to Gibson.
Some non-historical pieces of the building will be removed, he added, and the project is expected to take at least a year.
Bettencourt said “the community feels really good about this. People are really eager and happy, and I’ve not heard one complaint about the design. Not one!
“It will be the spectacular jewel of venues on the central coast,” he added with a happy sigh.
