Renovating and expanding James City County’s existing government center would cost less than half as much as building a new center, our latest look at the numbers shows.
Consultants told the county in May 2022 that over time, the cost of building a brand-new government center at a single location would be about the same as renovating the existing site.
The construction costs would be very different -- a new center would cost $99 million to build, and renovating the existing space and adding additional workspaces would cost about $65 million in 2022 dollars.
But the consultants figured the cost of owning both solutions over 30 years would be about the same, because the new center would be cheaper to maintain and the county could sell off excess land.
Things have changed in the intervening years.
As features were added to the new center, and the cost of building inflated, current cost estimates jumped to $189.5 million. They could rise still more when a design is completed and a price is bid…