Marie Ennis, a structural engineer, and Jorge Szendiuch, an architect, both of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering (EYP), presented their findings June 27 to various Garden City organizations, the board and the local media after an extensive look at the village's historic St. Paul's building. The study sought to find out whether or not village hall could be relocated to St. Paul's. They will offer their findings again during the July 18 board of trustees meeting for all village residents to hear.

Through their scrutiny, Ennis said, "A building in such bad condition can in fact be brought back to life" even though time and lack of attention has taken their toll. "The rooms on the lower floors are not in that bad shape considering how long this building's been vacant," she said. "Water right now is this building's biggest enemy."

The primary purpose of their study was to see whether or not all the current departments in village hall, including the police and fire departments, could be relocated to the main building. EYP's study found that the move is in fact feasible to make but cost was and still is a primary factor.

They plan to use 45,000-50,000 square feet of the 130,000 gross square feet the property offers. The move could provide 6,500 square feet of meeting space. The current village hall building provides only 1,600 square feet for meeting space.

The "bottom line" for relocating village hall to St. Paul's would cost the village close to $23.7 million. Included in that price tag is $400,000 to demolish Ellis Hall, although that's optional, and $3.5 million to relocate the firehouse possibly where the cottages stand now with an apparatus building that could house the department's various trucks and fire equipment. "We looked at turning Ellis Hall into the apparatus room but the area didn't match up to what the fire department needed," Szendiuch said, adding that $1.5 million has been budgeted for unanticipated items. "We want to make sure we do our homework now so these are numbers everyone can live with going forward," Szendiuch said.

"Working with the mayor's committee on St. Paul's helped us really get to know the people of Garden City and their needs," Ennis said. "I know there's been a lot of questions as to what to do with St. Paul's for many years. I'd like to think that question mark could be removed with what we're suggesting so that building could live another 112 years. It's fairly sturdily built and in pretty good shape. We're hopeful this building could be breathing new life soon."

When asked when the board plans to make a decision on whether or not they'll take EYP up on their offer, Mayor Robert Lewis asked Ennis how much time they have. "Another winter will see a lot more damage to the stone and heavy rains and winds will cause more roof damage," she said. "I'd suggest making a decision ASAP." Lewis noted a public referendum is not required.

If given the green light, EYP said the project's first phase, the designing stage, could take six months or so. "We could go out to bid in late January to early February of next year and could award the project in March of next year," Szendiuch said. Further, construction for a project of this size could take 10-12 months, he noted, but if one wanted to go faster the schedule could certainly be compressed.