Community organization 10 Carden’s move to 42 Carden St., under the rebranding of 10C, is expected to involve some actual moving in within the next few days.
The renovation of the former Acker’s Furniture building directly across from Guelph City Hall has encountered a number of unforeseen challenges, 10 Carden co-founder and executive director Julia Grady said in an interview on Tuesday.
The cost of the renovation to the three-storey building has risen as those challenges have been dealt with. Occupancy has been delayed by a few months. The overhaul of the building, which fronts both Carden Street and Macdonell Street, is now approaching the finish line.
“We are working towards getting partial occupancy in the next 10 days,” Grady said, adding that Chalmers Community Services, the Guelph Arts Council and the Local Immigarion Partnership are moving into the basement and first floor spaces right away.
Work will continue on the second and third floors over the summer. Those floors will be occupied by organizations that have shared the existing offices at 10 Carden Street, including the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition, Taylor Newberry Consulting, and Wellington Water Watchers.
“It is taking longer than we thought it would, by a factor of a few months, but there was a ton of complexity in the project,” she said. “It is a challenging site.”
The biggest challenge was the discovery that the building was mostly resting on rock. That made excavation in the beginning stages more difficult, more expensive, and more time consuming. Roof work and elevator installation was also much more complex than originally expected.
The cost of the complete project, including the purchase price, is within the $4 million range, she said. That figure is about $800,000 over what was originally budgeted.
Grady said she is very excited by the project reaching completion.
“I think at the end of the day, when everything comes together and people see the space and start to use it, that’s really where all the enjoyment will come into it,” she said.
The community bond offer is continuing, with about $360,000 remaining to reach the $1,325,000 total. It is at the $968,000 point.
