‘Challenging news.’ SLO County vets hall project could cost $5 million more than expected
Contractors say it will take at least $9.5 million to rebuild the historic Cayucos Veterans Memorial Building.
That’s $4 to $5 million more than what San Luis Obispo County engineers estimated construction costs would be, according to county Supervisor Bruce Gibson.
The gap between the $9.5 million bid — the lowest of two submitted by potential contractors — and the county’s estimate of $3.8 million was “challenging news,” Gibson told the Cayucos Advisory Council on June 1.
The cost discrepancy came as “an unpleasant surprise, but not a complete shock,” he said, given the skyrocketing costs of construction due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Contractors have a lot of work now, and this is a complex project.”
He said that county officials are searching for ways to fill that shortfall. Options include finding more money so the job can go forward as designed and replacing some specified materials with less expensive ones.
The total cost to restore the Cayucos vets hall was anticipated to be $5.4 million, Gibson said. That includes expenses the county has already paid, such as the cost of designing the new structure.
Current funding for the project includes a nearly $2 million grant from Proposition 68 funds, a $3.5 million internal loan that the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved in November and a $300,000 grant from the state Coastal Conservancy.
In June 2020, the state fire marshal red tagged the building, declaring that it was unsafe for use.
Since then, the county and community have worked toward restoring the structure many have called the heart of Cayucos.
History of Cayucos veterans hall
Located at 10 Cayucos Drive near the Cayucos Pier, the Cayucos Veterans Hall has been a popular venue for weddings, fundraisers, parties and government meetings for decades.
The bulding, originally known as the Cass Warehouse at Cayucos Landing, dates back to 1872, according to the venue’s website.
The Cass Warehouse was one of a series of buildings in downtown Cayucos in 1875, which included Capt. James Cass’ store, lumberyard, home, wharf and pier.
In 1920, the warehouse was acquired by the state of California, according to a 2017 San Luis Obispo County evaluation of the warehouse structure.
That evaluation concluded that the Cass Warehouse meets the criteria for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources due to its strong association with Cass, Cayucos and the state’s maritime economy.
The county hailed the structure as a “rare example of a late 19th-century wharf warehouse and a significant element of the county’s and the state’s maritime cultural landscape.”
The main part of the building has been closed since May 2016 due to unsafe conditions and structural issues discovered during routine maintenance
For a time, the Cambria Lions Club, which manages the facility, was allowed access to the patio, kitchen and bathrooms, which were add-ons to the original structure.
But the entire hall has been completely off limits since June 2021, when it was red-tagged by the California Office of the State Fire Marshal.
California State Parks added a 30-by-60-foot tent over the patio area, but it has since collapsed.
The Cayucos Vets Hall Restoration Committee has been working to save the dilapidated structure.
SLO County to seek more funding for restoration project
So how will San Luis Obispo County and its partners cover the costs of rebuilding the veterans hall?
Jeff Lee, the public works division chief who’s working on the project, told the council the county team is pursuing a number of funding sources, “seeing if we can reduce the gap” to a figure that might be more manageable locally.
Gibson said that team includes his office, the “parks department, public works and finance teams,” adding that negotiations are underway and being pushed hard.
He told the council he hopes to know more within the next month, so he can report progress at their July 6 meeting.
According to Gibson, options include asking if the Natural Resources Agency will increase the amount of its current $1.9 million grant toward the project and hoping other pending grants and increases are approved. One possible approval will be announced “any time now,” he said, and another in September.
He added that “we’re talking to legislators and other state agencies to see if there are other sources of funding for this.”
Replacing pricier construction materials with less expensive ones could help, too, but while some of those adjustments can be made now, other modifications would likely happen “once we’re in a contract,” Gibson said.
Those changes might include “specifics of deck material, or the nature of the shingles,” he said.
The county has also asked the contractors who bid on the restoration job to hold their bids open for a few months longer than usual, to give the project leaders time to find more money. They’re hoping that extension will give them until September to make a decision, and until mid-November to actually award the contract.
Local fundraising efforts have been amazing, Gibson said, but donors have committed to give several hundred thousand dollars and won’t send the funds until there’s a firm go-ahead on the project.
So those monies haven’t yet been included in the funding-in-hand totals.
“The Cayucos community has already done more than its share of fundraising,” Gibson said, “and we expect that incredible public support will continue. We thank those who have organized the fundraising efforts and those who have contributed.
“But the community alone isn’t responsible for this,” Gibson said, “and we want them to know we’re working on it. … We’re cautiously optimistic, and we’re bound and determined that it’s going to happen.”
