Centre County’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a contract for roof replacement at the former Centre Crest building in Bellefonte as planning moves forward for a major overhaul of the facility.
Commissioners unanimously agreed to the $1,451,365 contract with David M. Maines and Associates of Lewistown. The board previously approved entering spending a similar amount in June, but the contractor had not yet been identified.
The county plans to overhaul the 118,000-square-foot, 85-year-old former nursing home building — which was vacated when Centre Care opened in 2021 in College Township — to bring multiple departments under one roof. The plan will free up crowded space in the Willowbank Building and move some departments out of scattered leased offices.
Last year, commissioner authorized the issuance of $40 million in general obligation bonds for capital projects, from which about $30 million will fund the Centre Crest renovation. While the roof replacement contract was approved separately from the rest of the renovation, which is still to be bid, it will be funded by the bond issuance, County Administrator John Franek said in June.
Work on the roof replacement will be done in multiple phases before and during the rest of the renovations, Franek said on Tuesday,
“Given the extent of the project this would be a multi-phase approach where they would come in and do the primary areas but then as the project would move forward they would come back and do additional sealing up and finishing of the work around other mechanical equipment on the roof,” he said.
The main roof, which will come with a 30-year warranty, will be refurbished with a Ketone Ethylene Ester membrane system that will support installation of a solar array, Scott Graham of project architect MG architects previously explained.
“In order to consider any type of solar array built at the site it was determined that the roof should be addressed at this point,” Franek said this week. “We’d put on a new membrane that would allow the weight and construction of the solar array and the associated equipment.”
Commissioner Amber Concepcion added that a new roof is important given the extensive renovations that will be done beneath it.
“We were also considering that we didn’t want to risk damage to all of the new areas that we are renovating by continuing with an older roof that had already experienced some leaks,” Concepcion said. “So this is a way of protecting our investment in that renovation as well.”
Other work associated with the roof replacement includes drainage improvements, a lightning arrester system replacement, installation of roof walkways, replacement of two access ladders, installation of two additional ladders and a new roof hatch. Graham noted that the roof currently is only accessible from the west wing, as well as that workers currently would have to use step ladders and ladders that are not OSHA compliant.
Flashing and trim metals on roof areas, and damaged metal wall panels will be replaced, and new standing seam roofs will be installed on front and back canopies.
In response to a question from Commissioner Steve Dershem, Franek said the county’s new Responsible Contractor Ordinance did not apply to the roof contract because it was not in effect at the time the bid was let. The controversial ordinance, which established new requirements for contractors to be eligible for county-owned construction projects over $250,000, passed by a 2-1 vote in June, with Dershem voting no.
“This would be the only contract greater than $250,000 that would be issued [for the Centre Crest project] outside of the RCO,” Franek said.
