West Hartford OK's Cash For Elmwood Community Center Architect

WEST HARTFORD, CT — With the town already choosing an architectural firm to design the new Elmwood Community Center, West Hartford leaders last week finalized the means to pay them.

The West Hartford Town Council voted 7-0 on May 14 to utilize $3 million in leftover federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to fund hiring an architectural firm for the project.

In March, the town hired GWWO Architects — with offices in West Hartford and Baltimore, Md. — to design the new Elmwood Community Center, which would be at the site of a former Catholic school at 100 Mayflower St.

When complete, it will incorporate a library branch, teen center, and senior center, and construction is slated to begin in 2025.

"The architectural firm will design the building, produce the construction documents, assist in the bidding process, provide construction administration services, and generate the as-built drawings once building construction is completed," wrote West Hartford Town Manager Rick Ledwith in an update to the council last week.

In 2021, West Hartford purchased the old St. Brigid School site, which encompasses 8.5 acres in the Elmwood section of town, for $3 million, with the state reimbursing most of that figure.

The project would eventually replace the community center and library in Elmwood, as those buildings are seen as being antiquated.

A final price tag still needs to be finalized and the public must also decide the actual building project.

A year ago, a report submitted by Tecton Architects out of Hartford showed a total project cost of $66.45 million for an 82,000-square-foot facility.

The architect's work is seen as a key step toward a more finalized price tag estimate, along with a more finalized set of designs and plans.

"That process will probably take about 12 months to complete, so we will certainly keep the council ... up to date as we move through that design process," Ledwith said.

The contract with the architectural firm was slated to be sent out last week after the council vote.

Ledwith said using ARPA funding to hire an architectural firm is an approved use under federal guidelines.

ARPA funding was distributed in 2021 to states and towns nationwide as a government response to the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council members didn't discuss the $3 million ARPA appropriation much before easily approving it.

Now that the $3 million has been approved, council members have added that amount to West Hartford's capital projects fund.

It also means — out of $37.23 million in ARPA funding originally granted to West Hartford — the town now has $1.23 million left, taking into account this latest appropriation.

West Hartford has until Dec. 31 to exhaust all of its ARPA dollars or it will lose whatever is left.

For the minutes of the May 14 West Hartford Town Council meeting, along with information on the resolution, click on this link.

From March 20: 'West Hartford Picks Architect For New Community Center Project'