CONSTRUCTION UPDATE:

At the writing of last month’s report, we were introduced to unstable soils in the deepest portion of our excavating, at the elevator pit.  Further testing in and around the entire site resulted in overall positive results except in and around the elevator pit.  According to our geotechnicals, onus was upon us to over-excavate the elevator pit by many feet and backfill with compactible clay.  You’ll see the huge difference in color in the first upper left picture where above is brown/tan compatible soil and at the bottom of the pit, the solid turns to a dark blue/green color of carbonaceous shale containing pyrite.

As adjacent soils to the elevator became suspect and tested poorly, footers within a dozen feet of the elevator had to be removed, soils replaced/compacted and footers redone.  The bottom picture gives you some semblance of the size of the footers removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This interloping effort cost us the month of November.  Incremental costs to date hover around $20,000 with another $10,000 anticipated in further soil remediation.  By all accounts, the worst is behind us, and we have already begun replacing footers with the expectation of footers-completion before the holidays. 

Notably, the Liokareas brothers have been a joy to work with as they were quick to point out the soil issues.  Would every other GC be willing to forego a month’s income waiting on engineers, testing, results, recommendations, over-excavating, backfilling, compacting, more testing, etc., or would another firm be quick to ‘bury’ the problems and move on with no regard to the integrity of the building in time to come???  And for all of the delay, this month’s construction costs are approximately $135,000.

FUNDRAISING 

First, I must apologize to the parish of the Annunciation/Columbus for reporting that they had pledged $50K over 5 years. Correctly stated, their Parish Council has approved this pledge, but it has yet to be approved at General Assembly.  As I am eternally hopeful, I jumped the gun in my reporting. Apologies again!

We’ve added another parish to my list of parishes we have visited below, and we are now adding St. Paul’s in North Royalton’s new pledge of $25K:

Holy Trinity, Camp Hill, PA ($100,000 pledge)    |    Holy Trinity, Canton, OH
St. Nicholas, Bethlehem, PA    |    St. Demetrios, Rocky River, OH
Annunciation, Akron, OH ($20,000)    |    Annunciation, Columbus, OH
Annunciation, Lancaster, PA ($50,000)    |    Holy Cross, Pittsburgh, PA ($100,000)
Sts. Constantine & Helen, Reading, PA    |    St. Paul, North Royalton, OH ($25,000 – NEW)
Sts. Constantine & Helen, Cleveland Heights, OH    |    St. John the Divine, Wheeling, WV
St. Haralambos, Canton, OH    |    St. Nicholas Cathedral, Pittsburgh, PA

To our clergy: Last month, in my home parish at the Annunciation/Akron, our parish priest, Fr. Dean Kokanos took the initiative to forward my status report to the entire parish via email. I received quite a number of questions at coffee hour thereafter. You might consider as much when it comes to making your parish aware and potentially engaged and it’s not that difficult to do.

We are lining up our January PC appointments and General Assemblies. Please reply to this note with the availability of yours. We would like to visit as many as possible! Soon!!

Again, don’t be left out! Your family and your parish MUST be represented. Generations to come will look for their original connection to the center. With the advent of construction, more parishes and individuals are pledging.

As I always will, I ask that you seriously consider a pledge, or raising your pledge, or pre-paying your pledge so that we AVOID ANY DEBT!We will continue fundraising until we are there! Please help us such that this new home of work and worship and gathering and fellowship is only ever a blessing AND NEVER A BURDEN to our church. Please help.

To get your pledge matched, please click on this link:  Donate Now! - Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh  or print out the attached pledge card and mail it to the address at the bottom.

FINANCIAL STATUS

FUNDING
Total Project Cost = $14.0M
Total Pledges/Cash to Date = $11.1M (80% of total cost)
Pledges Outstanding = $3.9M  |  Cash on Hand = $5.8M

SPENDING:
Soft Costs to Date = $625K (architects, geotechnicals, campaign, contingency)
Construction Spending This Month = $135K
Construction Spending to Date = $1.08M
TOTAL PROJECT SPENDING = $1.7M

BORROWING:
Anticipated, Approximate Total = $2.5M
Anticipated Start = May 2024

Thanks for all of your support and prayers,

Nick Lekas
Akron, Ohio
330-633-3700