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If everything progresses as planned, the Department of Facilities Development and Management is facing an extremely busy year. "One of the first things on our agenda is to get all the costs together for the list of proposed projects to give to the Board," said Richard LeBlanc, Architect for the Lake County Department of Facilities Development and Management. With more than a half dozen major capital projects in various stages of planning, more definite financial figures will assist the Board with devising funding plans for each project. "The other project we are currently working on is the move of public defender and court administration to the 123 N. Sinclair Ave. facility and adding additional judicial suites in the existing courthouse," LeBlanc said. A complete list of projects the Department is tackling in 2007 includes:
The Department of Facilities Development and Management, Facilities Management Division, moved in December from its office in downtown Tavares to a new leased warehouse located at 32400 County Road 473 in Leesburg. The Division is responsible for the overall management of all County-owned and occupied facilities, including preventive maintenance, managing central air systems, lawn care and custodial work.
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| Library construction progressing smoothly Construction of the Cagan Crossings Community Library is progressing along nicely with completion scheduled in the fall of 2007. The future 30,000-square-foot facility will be constructed on a site in the Cagan Crossings development, located about 16 miles south from Clermont off of U.S. Highway 27 in the Four Corners community. The new library will replace the current 6,000-square-foot Citrus Ridge County Library located in a shopping center on U.S. Highway 192. Construction has begun on the two-story facility designed by the St. Petersburg office of Harvard Jolly architects. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2006. It is anticipated the project will be completed in about one year from that event. When completed, the new library will feature a large children's area, a separate teen area, a training lab, 31 public-access computers, free wireless Internet access and a 150-seat community room. The community service room will provide space for local functions and events.  |
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County prepares for sticker shock Lake County Commissioners faced the magnitude of upcoming construction costs in early January as they approved the next phase of the downtown construction project. The $12 million contract addendum was needed to begin construction design of the Judicial Center expansion, detention center and central energy plant. This capital project, with early estimates in the $200 million range, is by far the most expensive and largest ever undertaken by Lake County. The last major construction project by the County was in 1993 when the current 121,000-square-foot Judicial Center was built for $13 million. At nearly 300,000 square feet across six stories, the proposed Judicial Center expansion will be complemented by expansions to the jail and energy plant as well as a 24,000 sq. ft. office building and a 1200 space parking garage. Other than its size, another prevailing explanation for the project?s price tag is the ever-rising price of construction materials and the tight labor market. "The sticker shock here in Lake County can be attributed to where the world is right now," said Richard LeBlanc, Architect for the Lake County Department of Facilities Development and Management. "There are scarce resources and skilled workers, and the cost of materials, such as concrete and steel, are skyrocketing. There is a world demand for these materials from China, India, and even Russia is experiencing a new building boom." |
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| Roll Call
There are more than a dozen different projects underway for the Lake County Department of Facilities Development and Management. Here are a few developments:
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