PROGRESS UPDATES
Aug. 5 -
Just heard back from the County. The two big questions that were still up in the air from the July
21 meeting HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY THE COUNTY. The water sprinkler vault can go in the
new island at the front parking lot. And the LH side Promenade can be created as we have
planned. This Promenade will be the primary walkway from the front parking lot to the rear
Meditation Gardens. Five sets of doors from different areas of the Church open out into this
Promenade space: the Lobby, the kitchen, the Fellowship Hall, a secondary hallway that comes
from the main hallway, and the Sanctuary. Go to Promenade to see a cross section rendering
that Eric did showing the existing elevation and what the proposed elevation will be, plus the
landscape layout done by Vicki showing the retaining wall and water feature. Great work Eric and
Vicki.
July 21 -
Meeting with Chesterfield County. Preliminary site plan meeting with all the County Department
heads. Representing the church was Eric Hepler, Jeff Staub (Balzer), Vicki O'Neal (Landscape
Designer & Building Team member), and Rusty Rothrock (Building Team member). Primary
discussions were concerning the location of the water sprinkler vault at the exterior parking lot
(where 6" water line is coming up from Buford Rd.) and whether the LH side setback from the
property line would allow us to create the Promenade area we were hoping have. Should hear
back from the County shortly concerning these two issues.
July 20 -
Building Team meeting. Neil Palmer from Century Construction went over the proposed
construction cost of the new church. Time was spent on each line item with various discussions
on cost saving options. Eric went over the cost savings of changing the vaulted hallway back to
a more traditional hallway. This is a beautiful look with wainscoting on the walls and heavy timber
separating different sections. This rendering from Eric is now being displayed on the Home page.
May 6 -
Building Team Meeting. Getting organized for the upcoming Annual Membership meeting.
April 8 & 14 -
Building Team meetings. Eric showed us all the various cut through sections of the new church.
The main hallway going from the front foyer to the Sanctuary is going to be an 18' high vaulted
ceiling with skylights flooding this interior space with natural lighting. This effect is going to be
very dramatic. Eric also showed us various sketches of the possible view that the artist rendering
would be created from. To see all the new sketches and drawings, go to Construction Docs.
March 25 -
Building team meeting. Discussion of landscaping and Meditation Gardens. Vicki O'Neal went
over the preliminary landscape plan that she created for the left hand side promenade
(walk-way) to the Meditation Gardens. This is a beautiful design incorporating many places for
people to gather. There is also a water feature built in to the stone retaining wall right outside
the Fellowship Hall. The overall concept that Vicki has used in this design is that the Meditation
Gardens will actually begin as one enters the promenade walk-way on the front LH side of the
church. Vicki has also included space for six to eight 10 X 10 tents when Arts in the Garden or
other events are held. See Promenade Plan.
Ayer discussed the various locations to consider for the new tool shed that will be constructed
out in the Gardens. She also discussed the things that will be needed to be in place to maintain
the Gardens during the transition period of the new church being built. Temporary water supply
lines and electricity will need to be installed.
March 4 -
Building Team Meeting. Eric went over the revised changes from the last meeting. The new
location of the bookstore feels perfect. The bookstore will consist of glass walls on all sides.
Across from the bookstore on the other side of the foyer is a large gathering area with love
seats, chairs, and tables. Three new design topics were brought up and discussed : 1. To move
the bathroom doors further out to the hallway to free up traffic flow inside the bathrooms.
2. To add a baby changing station area to both bathrooms. 3. To add a second dishwasher in
the kitchen beside the other sink (so that there are now 2 sinks and 2 dishwashers).
Feb. 17 -
Building Team Meeting. Meeting spent refining interior spaces. Vicki, Rev. Joyce, and Cheryll
had spent some time during the week re-designing the Administration office space and work
stations. Building Team also discussed flipping the location of the bookstore (in the large lobby)
so that it's on the same side of the lobby where the offices are located. Also discussed was
using a movable ramp (that could be stored away when not in use) at the sanctuary stage going
up to the top platform. Eric will be making all of these changes accordingly.
Feb. 7 -
Membership Meeting. A church membership meeting was held at church after the
11:00 AM service. The purpose of this meeting was to vote on which bank proposal the church
should go with for the construction financing and permanent financing that would be needed for
the new church construction. Due to the inclement weather, church members were able to vote
online (for the very first time in our church history). Results of the total voting (in person &
online): 72 yes, 0 no to go with First Market Bank. To see the Power Point presentation that was
shown at the Membership Meeting (and to those voting online) click on Bank Proposals.
Jan. 28
Building Team meeting. Eric Hepler went over the revised floor plans and discussed many things
for further thought and review (click on Current Floor Plans). Eric also presented the new
Exterior Elevations that he's been working on. These exterior elevations are beautiful. As
Tom Layman mentioned at this meeting "of new church design looks and feels like Bon Air."
Our new church is truly going to be a wonderful addition to the Bon Air architectural community.
Jan. 9
Building Team and Board of Directors Field Trip. Neil Palmer and Bill Hollowell from Century
Construction took us on a field trip to see their most recent completed new construction project at
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. This is a beautiful church and we were very fortunate to
have this opportunity of seeing it up close. Their main foyer and their sanctuary were very close
in size to our planned spaces for the same. To see pictures from this Field Trip (and other
churches we have looked at), click on Various Field Trips to other Churches.
Dec. 14 & 15
Meetings with four banks: First Market, SunTrust, BB&T, and First Citizens. Here's a copy of
the correspondence sent out to Board of Directors, Trustees, and Building Team Committee:
"As many of you know, Howard Green and Rusty Rothrock held interviews at church with four
different banks the past two days. During that time the banks were brought up to speed
concerning our church expansion, capital campaign, and the necessary funding that would
eventually be needed by the church. All of the interviews went fantastic, here are some of the
common threads:
* The banks were very impressed with the growth and prosperity of our church in such a short
time, and they were impressed with the pledges generated by our capital campaign.
* The banks were all looking for the same information...number of giving units, number of
members, etc. (most of which were able to supply to them in our presentation booklet).
* The banks were very complimentary towards our presentation booklets that Tom Layman put
together, in fact one banker Chris Layne from BB&T said "hands down, this is the most
beautiful package I have ever seen presented by a church."
* The banks seemed "eager" to do business with us.
* All four banks would want the church to do it's daily banking with them (if we were to choose
them for our construction loan).
* All four banks said they would have answers back to us within 3-4 weeks.
In closing, we feel very comfortable with all four banks and we affirm that we will be getting
attractive loan proposals from all four. Thanks to everyone who was involved in making these
bank presentations become a reality. Special thanks to Karen Hawkins and Kathy Blaska for
getting all of the financials together for us, to Tom Layman for creating such a powerful
presentation booklet, and to Rev. Joyce who took time out of her schedule to "pop in" during
each of the bank interviews. "
We're on our way. Thank you God. Blessings to all,
Howard & Rusty
Nov. 23
Where did the house next door go?
Here one day and gone the next. Our new
parking lot is coming along just great.
For many more pictures, click on
Current Construction Pictures.
Nov. 12
Building Team Meeting. Eric Hepler showed us the rough sketch of the church exterior. This is a
very rough sketch but it looks fantastic. The architectural flavor is that of the Arts & Craft period
that was prevalent throughout Richmond and Bon Air in the 1920's. A stone facade will be used
on the bottom 4' of the exterior walls, cedar shakes and siding will be used in the upper portions
of the exterior walls. Heavier wood trim will be used around all windows, doorways, and soffit and
cornice details. See exterior rough sketch.
We also spent some time going over the construction cost estimates once again. These figures
will be used by the Finance Committee as they prepare to approach four different banks for
construction loan applications. This will hopefully be done by the middle of December. Once
loan approval is granted and we decide which bank we would like to work with, we will then be
able to turn Eric loose on continuing the plan drawings.
Sept. 28
Timber!!! Trees have started being
knocked down next door in preparation
of the new church parking lot. To see more
pictures, go to Current Construction Pictures.
Talk about a take charge Minister...
"I'm tired of waiting, let's get 'er done."
Aug. 18, Sept. 3, Sept. 24
Building Team Meetings. Meetings consisting of working on all the soft costs related to the
expansion project, fine tuning the revised floor plan of approx. 9,100 sq. ft., and working through
all the estimated construction costs in preparation for the Finance Committee to be able to
approach lending institutions.
During this process, the revised floor plan has been submitted by Eric Hepler (see Current Floor
Plan) and the revised Master Plan has been submitted by Andrew Bowman from Balzer (see
Master Plan).
Aug. 4
Building Team Meeting. The meeting tonight consisted of going over every line item that Neil
Palmer presented last week. Eric Hepler was a big help in explaining the costs and looking at
ways to get the project back "in budget." Many options were discussed, one being cutting the
square footage and getting back into the 9,000-10,000 square feet area. Tasks were assigned
to different Building Team members to work on figures and cost cutting measures prior to the
next Building Team meeting. All options need to be addressed and weighed.
July 28
Building Team Meeting. Neil Palmer form Century Construction has been working on preliminary
cost estimates for the project. These estimates were based on the existing square footage that
is being represented in the most current floor plan (which is now up to almost 12,000 square
feet). Neil had a line item for everything from clearing the trees at the house next door to the
furniture that is needed once the church is completed. Based on the present plans, Neil's figures
showed that we are approximately $500 -600,000 over budget (using the goal of $1.1M).
July 21
Building Team Meeting. Eric showed us the recent changes that we agreed on at the last
meeting. Everything looked good except for the location of the door coming out of the Chapel
into the Sanctuary. The Building Team thought is would be more useful to have a set of double
French doors at this location, opening out into the Sanctuary. Eric will be making the appropriate
changes. The next Building Team meeting with Eric will consist of seeing the exterior elevations,
window placement, and all the roof lines...it's getting exciting now.
James Browne and Dan O'Neal once again presented various options from a video and audio
perspective. James will be checking on the most current types of video projectors along with
different types of consoles to house the equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 18 & June 30
Building Team Meetings. Working on interior design and floor plans. Looking at all options for
the Sanctuary design and location of the designated Chapel. Eric showed us the recent
changes. We still want to add another stall in the Ladies Room (will use the space that was
designated for exterior closet outside of bathroom). Still need to locate a space for the audio /
video equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 11
Building Team Meeting. Subcommittees reported back as to the requests and desires of their
groups that they were assigned : Anne Purser & John Rayfield - Kitchen design, Susan Cullen -
educational / classroom needs, Vicki O'Neal - all offices, work stations, Minister office, and much
more, Tom Layman - musicians and stage layout in the Sanctuary, and Ayer Chamberlin -
Chapel design and Chaplain needs. Much more discussion is needed on all of the above items.
We're meeting again next week to fine tune various things.
The only new thing to show this week (from a plans standpoint) is the potential kitchen design.
Click on Unity Kitchen.
May 14
Building Team Meeting. Another exciting meeting with Eric going through the floor plans of the
new church. Eric moved some walls around since the last meeting. Some items of note:
* The church office now has a glass wall with great visibility to the lobby and front door.
* Folding glass doors at the Fellowship Hall allowing for large events to "pour out" into the hallway
for additional space.
* Staircase to the attic allowing us to create storage rooms for various purposes.
From here the Building Team will be interviewing the various Department Heads of the church to
fine-tune the room spaces and specific needs. The floor plans will continue to change every 2
weeks until we have the finished layout and design that we are happy with.
April 30
Building Team Meeting. Excellent meeting tonight. Eric showed us more details of where the
various rooms would be located in the new church. He was also able to generate some exterior
elevations showing the approximate exterior dimensions of the building and the roof lines.
The Building Team has also been looking at different exterior facade possibilities. The one look
that the majority of us like is that of an Arts & Crafts Era. This form of architecture occurred
during the 1920's -1930's and was composed of stone, stucco, and wood materials. There are
many houses in Bon Air and Richmond that reflect the Arts & Crafts architecture. Attached are
some pictures of a newer building with semi Arts & Crafts feeling (pictures).
March 25
Building Team Meeting. Had a very exciting meeting tonight. Eric Hepler, the architect, was able
to attend the meeting and brought along with him a schematic design of the new church. These
schematic designs are not showing specifics but more so where the different functions of the
church will be located. The sanctuary will be located at the rear looking out into the Meditation
Gardens, the kitchen and Fellowship Hall will be on the LH side with exterior doors opening out to
a terrace (and walk-way from front of church to Meditation Gardens), the bookstore and offices
will be on the RH side of the main foyer, and the Education wing will be on the rear RH side.
Feb. 15
Membership Meeting, 12:45 PM. There was a tremendous turnout for this meeting, people
wanted to hear more about the vision of building a new church behind the existing church. Both
Eric Hepler and Neil Palmer made excellent presentations (see pictures). Both men spoke
about their qualifications and the past church projects that they have completed and worked
together on.
Eric and Neil also talked about the challenges of trying to add on to the existing structure and
why it would be more cost-effective to consider building a new church. They also discussed all
the advantages of new construction, including (but not limited to) : slab construction (everything
on one floor, no stairs, no elevator, no ramps), new energy efficient heating and cooling systems,
better insulation package, the chance to use environment friendly "green" construction materials,
and the huge advantage of staying in the existing building while the new structure is being built
out back.
After the initial presentations, there was a questions and answer session with many of our
members asking very good questions. After all the questions where answered, the members in
attendance were then asked to vote. The vote totals were 78-2 in favor of having Eric Hepler to
be hired as the architect to design new plans for a church to be built behind the existing building
and for Century Construction to be the Builder on a design / build basis.
Feb. 11, 2009
Building Team Meeting. Tonight's meeting was spent preparing for the upcoming Membership
Meeting on Feb. 15th. Eric Hepler, architect, and Neil Palmer, Century Construction, are both
scheduled to make presentations at the Membership Meeting. These two gentlemen will be
presenting their reasons why the church membership should consider to build a new church
behind the existing church. The Building Team also had to work out the proper language to be
used for the ballot that the membership would be voting on.
At the meeting tonight we also discussed the sample chair program that two different
manufacturers are offering to us. These two companies, Church Chair (Rome, GA) and
Fellowship Chair (Victoria, VA) would each like to ship us a free chair to start trying out in the
sanctuary. The Building Team decided on the style of the chairs and the colors of the fabrics.
These would not necessarily be the final colors and patterns to be used in the new sanctuary.
These two chairs are strictly sample chairs to determine the quality and comfort between the two
manufacturers. Both chairs will be used in the sanctuary as soon as they arrive and everyone
will have a chance to sit in one or both of the chairs during the next 40 weeks or so (until the time
comes as to when we need to decide on which manufacturer to order from). Survey sheets will
be positioned under both chairs for people to fill out after each service. We want to get
everybody's opinion as to which chair is more comfortable.
Nov. 25
Building Team Meeting. Discussion as to how everyone felt about the presentation that Eric
Hepler (the architect) made at the Board meeting last week. This Board Meeting was a joint
meeting with the Building Team so that everyone could meet Eric Hepler and to hear his
presentation.
Everyone on the Building Team was very impressed with Eric. He was very much aware of all the
issues that our church expansion needs to address. He also felt confident about designing a
new church (to be built behind our existing church) and to have the cost come in at the same
budget we had originally earmarked for the expansion of the existing building. Eric mentioned
that approximately 80% of his architectural business is designing new churches and various
church expansions. Eric is very active in his church, he lives in the Bon Air area, and he is just
simply a very nice person. Hopefully in the near future our entire congregation will get a chance
to meet and to hear Eric Hepler.
The Board of Directors was very impressed with Eric as well. Eric was asked to work up a
proposal as to what he would charge to design a new church that would be built behind the
existing church. In order for Eric to do a proposal, he asked the Building Team to create a
"wish list" of rooms needed in the new church along with the approximate sizes for each room.
Our meeting tonight was to do exactly that. See the attached "wish list."
As one will see, this "wish list" totals up to 8,187 sq. ft. But when adding in hallways, closets, and
other storage areas, we're probably going to be in the 9,000 sq. ft. range. The size of our
existing church (both floors combined) is 3,800 sq. ft. Using these two figures, the new church
will be almost 2 1/2 times larger that the existing church. Yeah God.
Nov. 8
Please read Oct. 23 information before reading this post of Nov. 8. Thank You.
Field Trip. The Building team and the Board of Directors had a fantastic field trip to First
Mennonite Church on Parham Rd. This is a beautiful church that Century Construction built and
Eric Hepler designed. The size of this church is 10,000 sq. ft. and it cost approximately $1.2 M
(site prep cost, curb and gutter, and asphalt parking lot costs all included in this price).
Eric Hepler has been kind enough to send us the floor plan of First Mennonite Church, click on
First Mennonite Binder (there are 3 pictures and 2 floor plans). When you open this binder
up, make sure the magnification is set at 100% on the pictures. If you want to look at things
closer on the floor plans, go ahead and use the magnification.
To see the Field Trip pictures, click on Field Trip. There are 21 pictures in this grouping, so
make sure you see them all (it does take 10-15 seconds for all of these to download, be patient).
Also, on most of the Field Trip pictures there's a little yellow note pad positioned somewhere in
the picture. You can click on this yellow note pad and a comment will pop up explaining what you
are looking at.
All of this is very exciting, but everyone needs to remember that at this point it's all just a
"possibility." The Building Team will be talking with Century Construction and Eric Hepler in the
next several weeks to get into more details. We also will need to talk with Chesterfield County to
see if it's feasible. The County is already in the process of approving our original Master Plan
that included all 3 Phases of our church expansion. Building a new church behind our existing
church fits inside our original footprint that we submitted to the County several months ago.
We welcome all comments from everybody concerning this possibility. Click on Contact (to the
left) and send us some feedback. Thank You.
Oct. 23
Meeting with Century Construction. Cheryll and Rusty met with Neil Palmer from Century
Construction and Eric Hepler, an independent architect who works closely with Century
Construction. Century is considered the premier church building firm in the Richmond area. For
more information on Century visit www.centuryconstruction.com Make sure you click on the
Religious Facilities page on their website to see an impressive picture display of many Richmond
churches that they have built or modified.
This meeting at our church with Neil and Eric was very enlightening. We showed them our
proposed expansion plans, we talked about all the needs of the church, and we discussed some
concerns we had of attaching expansion wings on three sides of our church. We also gave them
a tour of our property and a walk through the Meditation Garden.
Neil Palmer felt that our plans offered some challenges on several fronts : tying in the new
sanctuary expansion roof to the existing "stick built" roof, installation of an elevator at a
reasonable price (he mentioned that it might run in the $80M -100M range), re-working the
existing heating and cooling system to tie in with the new HVAC systems that would be needed,
plus having to deal with the floor elevation differences on the ground floor (the new church
expansion floors would be 24" deeper giving more head clearance and allowing for space
needed to run the new HVAC ducts in the dropped ceilings of the new expansions)..
From a design and planning standpoint Eric Hepler talked about some of the issues that he saw
would still exist even after our expansion was finished:
1. The height of the front brick steps is very intimidating. Eric mentioned that we have no idea as
to how many potential new church goers might have pulled up in our parking lot, only to turn
around and leave after seeing the demanding front steps.
2. The L shape of the new sanctuary is not the best layout. Eric fully understands that we have
side property line set-back limitations to work within (which created the L shape to get a 175
seating capacity).
3. The basement maze of hallways and classrooms is not conducive to attract new younger
families (and their kids) to our church. Eric mentioned that the growth of the younger family
population in any church is a direct correlation to the future stability of that church.
Eric and Neil both agreed that our church monies might be better spent and that we would get
more "bang for the buck" to consider new construction. Century has recently completed some
new churches in the $110-115 per sq. ft. range. After seeing our incredible Meditation Garden
they immediately visualized a new sanctuary looking out onto the gardens. The concept that
they would like for us to consider is to build a new church behind the existing church,
continue to hold services in our existing building until the new church is completed,
and then remove the existing building 100%.
Here are some additional thoughts that they brought up :
* The new sanctuary would be located at the rear lower parking area. The back wall of the
sanctuary would consist mostly of glass looking out into the Meditation Garden. Seating
capacity in the new sanctuary would be in the 175-200 range.
* There would be no stairs, no ramps, and no elevator. The entire new church would be built
on one floor (slab construction). Here's a fascinating fact about our current topography around
the church : the elevation at the front parking spaces by the front sidewalk is almost the same
elevation as the rear gravel parking lot near the woods (there's only a 1' difference in this
distance of almost 200'). What this means is that the entire floor of the new church would be the
same elevation as the existing front parking spaces.
* The new building would incorporate all the newest materials in "green" construction, along with
the most energy efficient heating and cooling systems on the market today.
Needless to say, the Building Team is very interested in this new possibility that Neil and Eric
have brought forth. To further investigate this vision, a "field trip" has been organized for the
Building Team and Board of Directors to visit one of the recent church projects that Century
Construction and Eric Hepler have completed. We will be visiting First Mennonite Church on
Nov. 8th.
Building Team meetings prior to this date can be read in Progress Updates - Archives.
Just heard back from the County. The two big questions that were still up in the air from the July
21 meeting HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY THE COUNTY. The water sprinkler vault can go in the
new island at the front parking lot. And the LH side Promenade can be created as we have
planned. This Promenade will be the primary walkway from the front parking lot to the rear
Meditation Gardens. Five sets of doors from different areas of the Church open out into this
Promenade space: the Lobby, the kitchen, the Fellowship Hall, a secondary hallway that comes
from the main hallway, and the Sanctuary. Go to Promenade to see a cross section rendering
that Eric did showing the existing elevation and what the proposed elevation will be, plus the
landscape layout done by Vicki showing the retaining wall and water feature. Great work Eric and
Vicki.
July 21 -
Meeting with Chesterfield County. Preliminary site plan meeting with all the County Department
heads. Representing the church was Eric Hepler, Jeff Staub (Balzer), Vicki O'Neal (Landscape
Designer & Building Team member), and Rusty Rothrock (Building Team member). Primary
discussions were concerning the location of the water sprinkler vault at the exterior parking lot
(where 6" water line is coming up from Buford Rd.) and whether the LH side setback from the
property line would allow us to create the Promenade area we were hoping have. Should hear
back from the County shortly concerning these two issues.
July 20 -
Building Team meeting. Neil Palmer from Century Construction went over the proposed
construction cost of the new church. Time was spent on each line item with various discussions
on cost saving options. Eric went over the cost savings of changing the vaulted hallway back to
a more traditional hallway. This is a beautiful look with wainscoting on the walls and heavy timber
separating different sections. This rendering from Eric is now being displayed on the Home page.
May 6 -
Building Team Meeting. Getting organized for the upcoming Annual Membership meeting.
April 8 & 14 -
Building Team meetings. Eric showed us all the various cut through sections of the new church.
The main hallway going from the front foyer to the Sanctuary is going to be an 18' high vaulted
ceiling with skylights flooding this interior space with natural lighting. This effect is going to be
very dramatic. Eric also showed us various sketches of the possible view that the artist rendering
would be created from. To see all the new sketches and drawings, go to Construction Docs.
March 25 -
Building team meeting. Discussion of landscaping and Meditation Gardens. Vicki O'Neal went
over the preliminary landscape plan that she created for the left hand side promenade
(walk-way) to the Meditation Gardens. This is a beautiful design incorporating many places for
people to gather. There is also a water feature built in to the stone retaining wall right outside
the Fellowship Hall. The overall concept that Vicki has used in this design is that the Meditation
Gardens will actually begin as one enters the promenade walk-way on the front LH side of the
church. Vicki has also included space for six to eight 10 X 10 tents when Arts in the Garden or
other events are held. See Promenade Plan.
Ayer discussed the various locations to consider for the new tool shed that will be constructed
out in the Gardens. She also discussed the things that will be needed to be in place to maintain
the Gardens during the transition period of the new church being built. Temporary water supply
lines and electricity will need to be installed.
March 4 -
Building Team Meeting. Eric went over the revised changes from the last meeting. The new
location of the bookstore feels perfect. The bookstore will consist of glass walls on all sides.
Across from the bookstore on the other side of the foyer is a large gathering area with love
seats, chairs, and tables. Three new design topics were brought up and discussed : 1. To move
the bathroom doors further out to the hallway to free up traffic flow inside the bathrooms.
2. To add a baby changing station area to both bathrooms. 3. To add a second dishwasher in
the kitchen beside the other sink (so that there are now 2 sinks and 2 dishwashers).
Feb. 17 -
Building Team Meeting. Meeting spent refining interior spaces. Vicki, Rev. Joyce, and Cheryll
had spent some time during the week re-designing the Administration office space and work
stations. Building Team also discussed flipping the location of the bookstore (in the large lobby)
so that it's on the same side of the lobby where the offices are located. Also discussed was
using a movable ramp (that could be stored away when not in use) at the sanctuary stage going
up to the top platform. Eric will be making all of these changes accordingly.
Feb. 7 -
Membership Meeting. A church membership meeting was held at church after the
11:00 AM service. The purpose of this meeting was to vote on which bank proposal the church
should go with for the construction financing and permanent financing that would be needed for
the new church construction. Due to the inclement weather, church members were able to vote
online (for the very first time in our church history). Results of the total voting (in person &
online): 72 yes, 0 no to go with First Market Bank. To see the Power Point presentation that was
shown at the Membership Meeting (and to those voting online) click on Bank Proposals.
Jan. 28
Building Team meeting. Eric Hepler went over the revised floor plans and discussed many things
for further thought and review (click on Current Floor Plans). Eric also presented the new
Exterior Elevations that he's been working on. These exterior elevations are beautiful. As
Tom Layman mentioned at this meeting "of new church design looks and feels like Bon Air."
Our new church is truly going to be a wonderful addition to the Bon Air architectural community.
Jan. 9
Building Team and Board of Directors Field Trip. Neil Palmer and Bill Hollowell from Century
Construction took us on a field trip to see their most recent completed new construction project at
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. This is a beautiful church and we were very fortunate to
have this opportunity of seeing it up close. Their main foyer and their sanctuary were very close
in size to our planned spaces for the same. To see pictures from this Field Trip (and other
churches we have looked at), click on Various Field Trips to other Churches.
Dec. 14 & 15
Meetings with four banks: First Market, SunTrust, BB&T, and First Citizens. Here's a copy of
the correspondence sent out to Board of Directors, Trustees, and Building Team Committee:
"As many of you know, Howard Green and Rusty Rothrock held interviews at church with four
different banks the past two days. During that time the banks were brought up to speed
concerning our church expansion, capital campaign, and the necessary funding that would
eventually be needed by the church. All of the interviews went fantastic, here are some of the
common threads:
* The banks were very impressed with the growth and prosperity of our church in such a short
time, and they were impressed with the pledges generated by our capital campaign.
* The banks were all looking for the same information...number of giving units, number of
members, etc. (most of which were able to supply to them in our presentation booklet).
* The banks were very complimentary towards our presentation booklets that Tom Layman put
together, in fact one banker Chris Layne from BB&T said "hands down, this is the most
beautiful package I have ever seen presented by a church."
* The banks seemed "eager" to do business with us.
* All four banks would want the church to do it's daily banking with them (if we were to choose
them for our construction loan).
* All four banks said they would have answers back to us within 3-4 weeks.
In closing, we feel very comfortable with all four banks and we affirm that we will be getting
attractive loan proposals from all four. Thanks to everyone who was involved in making these
bank presentations become a reality. Special thanks to Karen Hawkins and Kathy Blaska for
getting all of the financials together for us, to Tom Layman for creating such a powerful
presentation booklet, and to Rev. Joyce who took time out of her schedule to "pop in" during
each of the bank interviews. "
We're on our way. Thank you God. Blessings to all,
Howard & Rusty
Nov. 23
Where did the house next door go?
Here one day and gone the next. Our new
parking lot is coming along just great.
For many more pictures, click on
Current Construction Pictures.
Nov. 12
Building Team Meeting. Eric Hepler showed us the rough sketch of the church exterior. This is a
very rough sketch but it looks fantastic. The architectural flavor is that of the Arts & Craft period
that was prevalent throughout Richmond and Bon Air in the 1920's. A stone facade will be used
on the bottom 4' of the exterior walls, cedar shakes and siding will be used in the upper portions
of the exterior walls. Heavier wood trim will be used around all windows, doorways, and soffit and
cornice details. See exterior rough sketch.
We also spent some time going over the construction cost estimates once again. These figures
will be used by the Finance Committee as they prepare to approach four different banks for
construction loan applications. This will hopefully be done by the middle of December. Once
loan approval is granted and we decide which bank we would like to work with, we will then be
able to turn Eric loose on continuing the plan drawings.
Sept. 28
Timber!!! Trees have started being
knocked down next door in preparation
of the new church parking lot. To see more
pictures, go to Current Construction Pictures.
Talk about a take charge Minister...
"I'm tired of waiting, let's get 'er done."
Aug. 18, Sept. 3, Sept. 24
Building Team Meetings. Meetings consisting of working on all the soft costs related to the
expansion project, fine tuning the revised floor plan of approx. 9,100 sq. ft., and working through
all the estimated construction costs in preparation for the Finance Committee to be able to
approach lending institutions.
During this process, the revised floor plan has been submitted by Eric Hepler (see Current Floor
Plan) and the revised Master Plan has been submitted by Andrew Bowman from Balzer (see
Master Plan).
Aug. 4
Building Team Meeting. The meeting tonight consisted of going over every line item that Neil
Palmer presented last week. Eric Hepler was a big help in explaining the costs and looking at
ways to get the project back "in budget." Many options were discussed, one being cutting the
square footage and getting back into the 9,000-10,000 square feet area. Tasks were assigned
to different Building Team members to work on figures and cost cutting measures prior to the
next Building Team meeting. All options need to be addressed and weighed.
July 28
Building Team Meeting. Neil Palmer form Century Construction has been working on preliminary
cost estimates for the project. These estimates were based on the existing square footage that
is being represented in the most current floor plan (which is now up to almost 12,000 square
feet). Neil had a line item for everything from clearing the trees at the house next door to the
furniture that is needed once the church is completed. Based on the present plans, Neil's figures
showed that we are approximately $500 -600,000 over budget (using the goal of $1.1M).
July 21
Building Team Meeting. Eric showed us the recent changes that we agreed on at the last
meeting. Everything looked good except for the location of the door coming out of the Chapel
into the Sanctuary. The Building Team thought is would be more useful to have a set of double
French doors at this location, opening out into the Sanctuary. Eric will be making the appropriate
changes. The next Building Team meeting with Eric will consist of seeing the exterior elevations,
window placement, and all the roof lines...it's getting exciting now.
James Browne and Dan O'Neal once again presented various options from a video and audio
perspective. James will be checking on the most current types of video projectors along with
different types of consoles to house the equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 18 & June 30
Building Team Meetings. Working on interior design and floor plans. Looking at all options for
the Sanctuary design and location of the designated Chapel. Eric showed us the recent
changes. We still want to add another stall in the Ladies Room (will use the space that was
designated for exterior closet outside of bathroom). Still need to locate a space for the audio /
video equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 11
Building Team Meeting. Subcommittees reported back as to the requests and desires of their
groups that they were assigned : Anne Purser & John Rayfield - Kitchen design, Susan Cullen -
educational / classroom needs, Vicki O'Neal - all offices, work stations, Minister office, and much
more, Tom Layman - musicians and stage layout in the Sanctuary, and Ayer Chamberlin -
Chapel design and Chaplain needs. Much more discussion is needed on all of the above items.
We're meeting again next week to fine tune various things.
The only new thing to show this week (from a plans standpoint) is the potential kitchen design.
Click on Unity Kitchen.
May 14
Building Team Meeting. Another exciting meeting with Eric going through the floor plans of the
new church. Eric moved some walls around since the last meeting. Some items of note:
* The church office now has a glass wall with great visibility to the lobby and front door.
* Folding glass doors at the Fellowship Hall allowing for large events to "pour out" into the hallway
for additional space.
* Staircase to the attic allowing us to create storage rooms for various purposes.
From here the Building Team will be interviewing the various Department Heads of the church to
fine-tune the room spaces and specific needs. The floor plans will continue to change every 2
weeks until we have the finished layout and design that we are happy with.
April 30
Building Team Meeting. Excellent meeting tonight. Eric showed us more details of where the
various rooms would be located in the new church. He was also able to generate some exterior
elevations showing the approximate exterior dimensions of the building and the roof lines.
The Building Team has also been looking at different exterior facade possibilities. The one look
that the majority of us like is that of an Arts & Crafts Era. This form of architecture occurred
during the 1920's -1930's and was composed of stone, stucco, and wood materials. There are
many houses in Bon Air and Richmond that reflect the Arts & Crafts architecture. Attached are
some pictures of a newer building with semi Arts & Crafts feeling (pictures).
March 25
Building Team Meeting. Had a very exciting meeting tonight. Eric Hepler, the architect, was able
to attend the meeting and brought along with him a schematic design of the new church. These
schematic designs are not showing specifics but more so where the different functions of the
church will be located. The sanctuary will be located at the rear looking out into the Meditation
Gardens, the kitchen and Fellowship Hall will be on the LH side with exterior doors opening out to
a terrace (and walk-way from front of church to Meditation Gardens), the bookstore and offices
will be on the RH side of the main foyer, and the Education wing will be on the rear RH side.
Feb. 15
Membership Meeting, 12:45 PM. There was a tremendous turnout for this meeting, people
wanted to hear more about the vision of building a new church behind the existing church. Both
Eric Hepler and Neil Palmer made excellent presentations (see pictures). Both men spoke
about their qualifications and the past church projects that they have completed and worked
together on.
Eric and Neil also talked about the challenges of trying to add on to the existing structure and
why it would be more cost-effective to consider building a new church. They also discussed all
the advantages of new construction, including (but not limited to) : slab construction (everything
on one floor, no stairs, no elevator, no ramps), new energy efficient heating and cooling systems,
better insulation package, the chance to use environment friendly "green" construction materials,
and the huge advantage of staying in the existing building while the new structure is being built
out back.
After the initial presentations, there was a questions and answer session with many of our
members asking very good questions. After all the questions where answered, the members in
attendance were then asked to vote. The vote totals were 78-2 in favor of having Eric Hepler to
be hired as the architect to design new plans for a church to be built behind the existing building
and for Century Construction to be the Builder on a design / build basis.
Feb. 11, 2009
Building Team Meeting. Tonight's meeting was spent preparing for the upcoming Membership
Meeting on Feb. 15th. Eric Hepler, architect, and Neil Palmer, Century Construction, are both
scheduled to make presentations at the Membership Meeting. These two gentlemen will be
presenting their reasons why the church membership should consider to build a new church
behind the existing church. The Building Team also had to work out the proper language to be
used for the ballot that the membership would be voting on.
At the meeting tonight we also discussed the sample chair program that two different
manufacturers are offering to us. These two companies, Church Chair (Rome, GA) and
Fellowship Chair (Victoria, VA) would each like to ship us a free chair to start trying out in the
sanctuary. The Building Team decided on the style of the chairs and the colors of the fabrics.
These would not necessarily be the final colors and patterns to be used in the new sanctuary.
These two chairs are strictly sample chairs to determine the quality and comfort between the two
manufacturers. Both chairs will be used in the sanctuary as soon as they arrive and everyone
will have a chance to sit in one or both of the chairs during the next 40 weeks or so (until the time
comes as to when we need to decide on which manufacturer to order from). Survey sheets will
be positioned under both chairs for people to fill out after each service. We want to get
everybody's opinion as to which chair is more comfortable.
Nov. 25
Building Team Meeting. Discussion as to how everyone felt about the presentation that Eric
Hepler (the architect) made at the Board meeting last week. This Board Meeting was a joint
meeting with the Building Team so that everyone could meet Eric Hepler and to hear his
presentation.
Everyone on the Building Team was very impressed with Eric. He was very much aware of all the
issues that our church expansion needs to address. He also felt confident about designing a
new church (to be built behind our existing church) and to have the cost come in at the same
budget we had originally earmarked for the expansion of the existing building. Eric mentioned
that approximately 80% of his architectural business is designing new churches and various
church expansions. Eric is very active in his church, he lives in the Bon Air area, and he is just
simply a very nice person. Hopefully in the near future our entire congregation will get a chance
to meet and to hear Eric Hepler.
The Board of Directors was very impressed with Eric as well. Eric was asked to work up a
proposal as to what he would charge to design a new church that would be built behind the
existing church. In order for Eric to do a proposal, he asked the Building Team to create a
"wish list" of rooms needed in the new church along with the approximate sizes for each room.
Our meeting tonight was to do exactly that. See the attached "wish list."
As one will see, this "wish list" totals up to 8,187 sq. ft. But when adding in hallways, closets, and
other storage areas, we're probably going to be in the 9,000 sq. ft. range. The size of our
existing church (both floors combined) is 3,800 sq. ft. Using these two figures, the new church
will be almost 2 1/2 times larger that the existing church. Yeah God.
Nov. 8
Please read Oct. 23 information before reading this post of Nov. 8. Thank You.
Field Trip. The Building team and the Board of Directors had a fantastic field trip to First
Mennonite Church on Parham Rd. This is a beautiful church that Century Construction built and
Eric Hepler designed. The size of this church is 10,000 sq. ft. and it cost approximately $1.2 M
(site prep cost, curb and gutter, and asphalt parking lot costs all included in this price).
Eric Hepler has been kind enough to send us the floor plan of First Mennonite Church, click on
First Mennonite Binder (there are 3 pictures and 2 floor plans). When you open this binder
up, make sure the magnification is set at 100% on the pictures. If you want to look at things
closer on the floor plans, go ahead and use the magnification.
To see the Field Trip pictures, click on Field Trip. There are 21 pictures in this grouping, so
make sure you see them all (it does take 10-15 seconds for all of these to download, be patient).
Also, on most of the Field Trip pictures there's a little yellow note pad positioned somewhere in
the picture. You can click on this yellow note pad and a comment will pop up explaining what you
are looking at.
All of this is very exciting, but everyone needs to remember that at this point it's all just a
"possibility." The Building Team will be talking with Century Construction and Eric Hepler in the
next several weeks to get into more details. We also will need to talk with Chesterfield County to
see if it's feasible. The County is already in the process of approving our original Master Plan
that included all 3 Phases of our church expansion. Building a new church behind our existing
church fits inside our original footprint that we submitted to the County several months ago.
We welcome all comments from everybody concerning this possibility. Click on Contact (to the
left) and send us some feedback. Thank You.
Oct. 23
Meeting with Century Construction. Cheryll and Rusty met with Neil Palmer from Century
Construction and Eric Hepler, an independent architect who works closely with Century
Construction. Century is considered the premier church building firm in the Richmond area. For
more information on Century visit www.centuryconstruction.com Make sure you click on the
Religious Facilities page on their website to see an impressive picture display of many Richmond
churches that they have built or modified.
This meeting at our church with Neil and Eric was very enlightening. We showed them our
proposed expansion plans, we talked about all the needs of the church, and we discussed some
concerns we had of attaching expansion wings on three sides of our church. We also gave them
a tour of our property and a walk through the Meditation Garden.
Neil Palmer felt that our plans offered some challenges on several fronts : tying in the new
sanctuary expansion roof to the existing "stick built" roof, installation of an elevator at a
reasonable price (he mentioned that it might run in the $80M -100M range), re-working the
existing heating and cooling system to tie in with the new HVAC systems that would be needed,
plus having to deal with the floor elevation differences on the ground floor (the new church
expansion floors would be 24" deeper giving more head clearance and allowing for space
needed to run the new HVAC ducts in the dropped ceilings of the new expansions)..
From a design and planning standpoint Eric Hepler talked about some of the issues that he saw
would still exist even after our expansion was finished:
1. The height of the front brick steps is very intimidating. Eric mentioned that we have no idea as
to how many potential new church goers might have pulled up in our parking lot, only to turn
around and leave after seeing the demanding front steps.
2. The L shape of the new sanctuary is not the best layout. Eric fully understands that we have
side property line set-back limitations to work within (which created the L shape to get a 175
seating capacity).
3. The basement maze of hallways and classrooms is not conducive to attract new younger
families (and their kids) to our church. Eric mentioned that the growth of the younger family
population in any church is a direct correlation to the future stability of that church.
Eric and Neil both agreed that our church monies might be better spent and that we would get
more "bang for the buck" to consider new construction. Century has recently completed some
new churches in the $110-115 per sq. ft. range. After seeing our incredible Meditation Garden
they immediately visualized a new sanctuary looking out onto the gardens. The concept that
they would like for us to consider is to build a new church behind the existing church,
continue to hold services in our existing building until the new church is completed,
and then remove the existing building 100%.
Here are some additional thoughts that they brought up :
* The new sanctuary would be located at the rear lower parking area. The back wall of the
sanctuary would consist mostly of glass looking out into the Meditation Garden. Seating
capacity in the new sanctuary would be in the 175-200 range.
* There would be no stairs, no ramps, and no elevator. The entire new church would be built
on one floor (slab construction). Here's a fascinating fact about our current topography around
the church : the elevation at the front parking spaces by the front sidewalk is almost the same
elevation as the rear gravel parking lot near the woods (there's only a 1' difference in this
distance of almost 200'). What this means is that the entire floor of the new church would be the
same elevation as the existing front parking spaces.
* The new building would incorporate all the newest materials in "green" construction, along with
the most energy efficient heating and cooling systems on the market today.
Needless to say, the Building Team is very interested in this new possibility that Neil and Eric
have brought forth. To further investigate this vision, a "field trip" has been organized for the
Building Team and Board of Directors to visit one of the recent church projects that Century
Construction and Eric Hepler have completed. We will be visiting First Mennonite Church on
Nov. 8th.
Building Team meetings prior to this date can be read in Progress Updates - Archives.
As new things happen each month, the updates will be listed
on the top portion of this page.
on the top portion of this page.
