We are delighted to announce that the General Contractor we’ve selected for our building renovation project is Flannery Construction, a woman-owned business that came in with the best price and the best responses to our vendor policy questions about equity and racial justice practices in their business. Flannery Construction has done a considerable amount of work with non-profits, including with Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative.

In November, we hired an Owner’s Representative—a project manager who works directly for us, advocating for our best interest with our future contractor and our present architect. The Owner’s Representative we hired is Chelsea Waters from Watershed Partners. Chelsea recently brought Bethlehem Lutheran Church through several major building projects and she comes to us highly recommended for her efficiency, wisdom, and eye for cost-savings.

With the selection of our general contractor and owner’s representative, we are now moving into the next phase of our project as we make choices about what to include and exclude from the overall scope of the project. A team of staff and congregants have reconvened to work with our owner’s representative, architect, and general contractor to evaluate the options, make choices, and develop plans and a project calendar. In alignment with the goals of the capital campaign that raised funds for this project, we are using these guiding ideas:

• Make our building as accessible, welcoming, functional, and safe as possible
• Work within our budget
• Keep the mortgage paid off
• Attend in equal parts to deferred maintenance, sanctuary improvements, and other building improvements

We are moving forward with the expectation that all work will be completed this summer, between May 2020 and September/October of 2020. We will be sharing more information in the new year and communicating regularly with the congregation as plans for renovations develop.