Historic Preservation Commission Minutes 2020 12 21

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Historic Preservation Commission Meeting Minutes 21 December 2020 Page 10 of 14 Johnson described the new construction proposal, which included a second -story addition that was subordinate to the Main Street experience. From Walnut and Main, for example, the addition would barely be visible. He described the building process, which, due to the tight space and alley and utility restrictions, would be largely completed by hand. He noted that they were working with the City to address some of the utility and beautification issues in the alley. Johnson presented the costs for the project. He stated that the costs for restoring the historic portion were high per square foot and the new construction costs were higher than it would be on a site with better access. Overall, the costs of the historic element made the dollar amount higher and necessitated pursuing grant funding. Johnson stated that the investment from the property -owner was high, so it was reasonable that if the property was important to landmark, a significant portion should be contributed, and shared the fear that the building could sit for years because so much work had to be done. He explained that they had chosen the path of least resistance with the new construction grant by not requesting an amount over the limit, because the challenge was that the historic preservation number was large but the new construction was much larger. Paul Arnold, of PG Arnold Construction at 3109 28th Street in Boulder, shared the construction cost considerations. He noted some of the specific challenges for this project, namely that the site logistics were tight and that two immediately -adjacent buildings would likely need to have their foundations shored up. He noted that this project did not allow for much, if any, construction equipment, so much of it would be hand work which would take longer, require additional oversight, and costs more. He added that historic preservation overall requires additional oversite, resources, care, and diligence. Jeremy DeBacker, also of PG Arnold Construction, described the process of preserving the structure underneath the building. While they couldn't be sure what was there until they pulled everything back, they knew that they would need to add structure and that all the work would be done from the inside to help preserve the outside historic elements. He noted that the block foundation at 809 Main would need to be placed by hand. Klemme asked how long Tebo Properties had owned the property. Johnson replied that it was likely purchased in 1996. Klemme asked about the fund amount and any projected impacts of the pandemic. Zuccaro replied that the fund amount was approximately $2.8 million and that sales tax revenues were down a bit. He estimated that about $200,000 of that amount was encumbered in other grants. Klemme asked what would have happened if the applicant had not wanted to go through the landmarking process. Zuccaro replied that if the applicant had wanted to demolish the building, the Commission would have had the option to place a stay on it. They could have also built an addition to the existing building and the Commission would have seen the PUD on a referral basis. 10