The new Redmond recreation center, still in its planning stages, will have to be scaled back from early designs that voters approved with a $49 million bond in 2022.

Redmond Area Parks and Recreation District officials still hope to begin constructing the facility this spring. But some amenities touted in the last year will have to be scrapped and the final product will be smaller than originally planned.

During an Oct. 17 RAPRD special meeting, board members voiced disappointment over the news that they would not be able to deliver exactly what was promised to the public because of inflated construction costs.

Matthew Gilman, chair of the RAPRD board of directors, voiced his displeasure at what he called a “breakdown in communication.”

“Now all of a sudden I need to go out there and tell people, ‘Remember these beautiful drawings that we had? Well, now our place is going to look a little bit more square, and less tall, and less fancy and will be a little more crowded.’ And that is very disappointing to me,” said Gilman.

Just last month, the board making plans for a 74,500-square-foot rec center with lighted astroturf soccer field and indoor climbing gym.

But when a concrete cost estimate for the new facility arrived last month, board members saw many of the bells and whistles they hoped to add to the building will be too expensive.

Katie Hammer, RAPRD’s executive director, said a feasibility analysis done prior to the passage of the bond in November 2022 estimated a 12% increase in construction costs over a two year period. But after two years of ambitious design and development, the district’s board was shocked to learn construction prices inflated by 36% over that time period. That increase has upended the project’s available budget, Hammer said.

“We obviously have to make some reductions to the building,” said Hammer.

“Those reductions are going to be in building size. The program spaces are all intact. The things we promised to the community — having a lap pool, a leisure pool, fitness space, group fitness class rooms, a community room, a child watch space, and a gym — all those amenities will still be in the building. Basically every space is reduced in size a little but all the core programming will still exist.”

Exterior amenities already headed to the chopping block include soccer field, pickleball courts, playground and some architectural aesthetics. And what was planned to be a two-story facility will likely be reduced to a single story building, with a track wrapping around a gym and basketball court.

Hammer said the exterior amenities such as the sports field and the playground no longer fit in the new budget, but could be possible in a future stage of development.

“The bond was really just for the building,” she said. “And if we happened to have extra money, then we would be able to develop the exterior … but at this time it is not looking like we are going to have the extra funding to do that.”

Hammer said she estimates the exterior amenities would cost an additional $4 million.

RAPRD board member Kevin Scoggin joins Sam Bernhisel, Joanne Fletcher and Piper Muoio on the bond oversight committee. Starting in November, that board is expected to be an extra set of eyes to ensure bond dollars are spent as promised.

Some board members said they believe the public will be happy with what is ultimately built.

“At the end of the day it’s our architects and our construction team who are coming back with things that we were all assuming was in our budget. So, we are all quite surprised with that and it is a big pill to swallow,” said Lena Berry, a RAPRD board member elected in May 2023, after the bond was passed. “For that I a m sorry. But I am also optimistic about the future and do believe that we are going to be delivering an awesome product that still delivers all the things that the community was hoping for, it’ll just be in a different way.”

David Rouse, another member of the board elected this year, said he has experience working on large capital projects and said what is happening at this stage of the process is common.

“Preliminary budgets for those types of projects often start out with a beginning deficit. That’s pretty common. You begin with a wish list and then you pare that list down to fit the budget,” Rouse said. “And any time you’ve got a project as large and diverse as a full scale recreation center … it is understandable that an initial estimate can kind of be all over the map.”

Rouse agreed, however, that the final product can still fit the district’s needs.

“I think our job, as the parks district, is to make sure we deliver a project that Redmond residents voted for, and that it comes in on time and on budget,” he said. “We have plenty of areas to work with, and I think we will be able to deliver everything that we promised.”