Armory renovations more expensive than expected

County commissioners expressed some sticker shock when they discussed repairs and upgrades to the Armory in Apalachicola.

The County would like to upgrade the 114 year old building so it can be used as a local convention center as well as a destination for private events like weddings.

The building needs a lot of work – including an air conditioning system.

It also has flooding issues in a few places, the sidewalks need to be replaced and it needs to exterior lighting.

There are issues with the kitchen and with the floors that also need to be addressed among other things.

According to the project architect, the total cost to completely fix everything and bring the historic building up to code would be about 2.4 million dollars.

Commissioners say they are not going to put the county in debt for the armory project and have asked that the architect work with county staff to prioritize the work so that safety issues can be dealt with first.

The county has about a half million dollar in TDC funds to spend on the project this year, and according to TDC Director Curt Blair, there would be an additional 250 thousand dollars a year over the next three years.

Commissioner Pinki Jackel pointed out that if the commission were to increase the local bed tax the project could be funded much more easily.

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