Site alone could cost $1 million

Construction on the site of the Custer City Center could cost as little as $496,000, as much as $1.061 million, or anything in between.

That was the scenario laid out by Matt Fridell and Tanya Olson of Tallgrass Landscape Architecture at the June 18 meeting of the Custer City Council, as they presented both low and high estimates of the total cost for the master plan of the site. The numbers given are for the site on which the building sits, and does not include the cost of renovating the building or of the construction of a new swim center, nor does it include the cost of playground equipment for the YMCA child care center.

Fridell called the numbers a planning tool that will help guide the council in deciding on how it is to proceed with the site as the years go by. He said there are many variables that will affect what the final price will be, from the options the council chooses for materials to how much of the work is done by city crews or volunteers.

The most expensive part of the site design on the low side is the plaza entry and child care development center playground enclosure, which ranges from just over $200,000 to $282,000 at the high end. The public playground component is estimated to cost between $125,000 and $441,000, while the exercise and courts are estimated at $117,000 to $239,000. The final component is repair and rework, ranging from $53,000 to $98,000.