Capital Campaign Update (request for input)
Dear Friends,
It has been eleven months since I arrived at St. Thomas More and the time has come to update you on the process in place for the building project.
As you know, during 2002-2003 a campaign was launched while Father Jim Dalton was pastor to raise $3 million for Phase I of a three-phase project. The total cost of Phase I was estimated at $5.2 million ($3 million campaign goal plus a $2.2 million Archdiocesan Loan). Phase I included the construction of a new church; site improvements; remodel of the existing church building into a multi-purpose facility/gymnasium for our school and youth programs; and the enclosure of the school breezeway.
The campaign realized about $2 million in pledges before Fr. Jim left St. Thomas More and was reassigned to Immaculate Conception Parish in Arlington. At this time, we have collected $693,795 from pledges. This amount is accruing 5% interest in an archdiocesan savings account.
Many of you have continued payments on your pledge and I am grateful for your commitment. For those who have stopped payment on your pledges, I thank you for what you have contributed and ask you to pray that God will guide us in completing the project, if that is God’s will for our community. I am aware of your concern about what will happen to the funds collected if we do not proceed with the program. In such an event, and with the advice of our parish leadership along with consultation with archdiocesan staff, a decision will be made as to what to do with funds collected.
In the past several months I have asked our various commissions and leadership bodies, along with individual parishioners about what they would like to see happen with the building project. Many want to see Phase I completed. Others ask, “Why do we need a new church when this one is working well?” Although it’s unlikely we will find a community where all agree on a building project, it’s important to remember that in the original survey for the project, 69% wanted a new church.
Because the original estimate for the project was done in 2002, and because construction costs have gone up since that time, I asked for a new estimate from Ross McClure Cornwell Architects, the architectural firm that designed our proposed building. RMC Architects recommended that their consultant, the Wool-Zee Company, do the estimate.
The original estimate of October 2002 for Phase I presented to parishioners was $5.2 million. The current estimate for construction of Phase I, if constructed in 2008, is $7 million. In six years between the original estimate and a proposed project completion date in 2008, the increase in cost is 36%. The 36% increase includes a 5%-per-year increase in construction costs. The 2008 estimate does not include the cost of interest on a loan from the Archdiocese. To be consistent with the 2002 Phase I estimate, the 2008 estimate also does not include a library, chapel and church basement. In addition, it includes only a minimal remodel of the existing church into a gym/multi-purpose facility (for example, wood flooring is not included).
The obvious question for all of us is this: Can we afford the construction of Phase I? To answer this question, we are in the process of hiring a capital campaign group to do a new feasibility study. We have narrowed our search to two companies and plan to select one in August. Our goal is to conduct the study in November. Based on the results of the study, and with further input from our leadership bodies, a decision will then be made on whether or not to proceed with a new capital campaign.
I thank you for your patience with me during the last year while so many of you have been awaiting my response to the status of the building project.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Bob Camuso
Although a feasibility study is planned in which a number of parishioners
will be interviewed on the building project, I’d like to hear from those of you would like to respond now to what I have written in this letter.
Please write your thoughts or concerns below and send them to me in the enclosed envelope.
Name (optional)__________________________________Date_________