A few months and a few million dollars over previous estimates, construction on the UA Museum of the North will not be finished until May, and it won't be open for business until Sept.10, 2005.

The university is now negotiating with the contractor, Alaska Mechanical Inc., over the increased cost of construction, the delays and the related damages as defined in the contract.

"There are parts of that contract that have not been met," said Kathleen Schedler, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities and Safety. "Most notably, that the construction be done by December."

"Anybody walking by can see that it's not done, it's as clear as the face of a clock," she said laughing,

Last December, members of the UA Board of Regents approved a $3.5 million loan needed to keep the operation moving along. Both Schedler and UA Vice President of Finance Joe Beedle said payment of this interim loan would not negatively affect students and would not come from tuition money.

"No student services are going to be reduced so the university can pay this debt," Schedler said. "There is no direct link there at all."

This week UA President Mark Hamilton will recommend to the Board of Regents that the total project costs be raised to $42 million, including $4.75 million for non-construction costs like building new exhibits, adding furniture and equipment and $4.5 million for costs associated with constructing the building itself.

"There's no simple answer to the question," said Frank Torres, project manager for AMI. "It's a complicated project."

"You know, it's not out of line," said Torres of the cost. He said the price has gone up because of the time it takes to do quality work and the number of change orders (mid-construction changes) the university has requested. Torres said the number of change orders has been "significant."

Beedle hopes that the interim loan would be paid for by either state or federal appropriation or eventually by donations from the private sector and profits resulting from increased attendance and ticket prices.

"In the perfect world," Beedle said, "in two years the loan would be paid off."

A good rule of thumb to calculate the interest, said Schedler, is $85,000 per year for every $1 million borrowed. This would put the total cost of the loan at almost $6 million if it took two years to pay off.

"Yes, it is more expensive, there's no question about it," said Aldona Jonaitis, director of the museum, "but we know that an architecturally impressive building will bring more people and generate more revenue."

"It's one of the most complicated multipurpose buildings on campus," Jonaitis said. "We wanted as many windows as possible to bring the beauty of the landscape into the museum."

The building's size will more than double, from 40,820 to 84,611 square feet, but the addition will cost at least six times as much as the original museum did in 1980. Carol Adamczak, project manager for the university, said the square foot measurement is a little deceiving because much of the new space has open ceilings. For instance, the walls of the new art gallery soar 35 feet above the art exhibits on display. She said that in any other building this amount of volume might be divided up among three separate floors.

The gigantic gallery will have projections of the aurora on a large screen high above other art exhibits.

As of last week, the entire room was full of scaffolding from floor to ceiling. Most of the floors were still covered with protective sheeting, the ceilings were open showing wires, and workers were finishing sheetrock and starting to paint. Tile hung on the bathroom walls waiting for grout.

Adamczak and Jonaitis were optimistic, speaking of the impressive sweeping curves that make up the new part of the building. Using some imagination, they described the subtleties of what the new museum would look like inside, and how it would bring attention to UAF from the Outside for years to come, even if increased ticket sales from the majority of the tourist season would be missed this summer.

Adamczak said part of the reason for the delays has been the "shell game" of keeping museum property safe while a major construction project was in progress. Security is always a concern because the museum houses so many priceless artifacts. Strict humidity control is needed for the collections, and it is crucial that dust be kept out.

"That was left up to the contractor," Adamczak said.

"It's their responsibility to come up with the ways and means," agreed Schedler. "The construction is behind the original schedule," Schedler said, "but they're continuing to make good progress."

Comment on this story...