Sunday, June 11, was an extremely special day in the life of Chapel in the Pines. In May 2016, our congregation’s children held up a sign in worship imploring us to "Plezzz build us a Fellowship Hall!" And you did it, in record time! So, it was fitting that the children cut the ribbon to officially open the Hall for its first fellowship time following worship last Sunday. Glory be to God and to our entire congregational family, staff , and friends of Chapel in the Pines who pulled together to raise over $800,000 for this facility (built without a mortgage) and for mortgage payments on the existing building through 2021 (when our annual budget will fully pay the monthly mortgage). Next comes paving the parking lot this month weather permitting (money in hand already from the Pillars Campaign from the challenge gifts). Perhaps we’ll need a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first car that parks on that smooth surface. Stay tuned!
Peace and grace,
Stan Campbell, Chair
Finance and Administration Committee
Fellowship Hall Planning Team
Becky Peer
Bruce Raymond
Jan Rickard
Terry Rudolph
Zach Terry
Jerry Wehmueller
Fellowship Hall Update – 5/1/2017
Progress on construction of the Fellowship Hall continues. This week the kitchen cabinets are being installed. Once they are installed, the countertops will be made which will take about a week. The ceiling HVAC vents were installed last week and this week the overhead light fixtures will be installed. Once those items are done and the building inspector gives us the okay, the acoustical ceiling tile will be put in and the ceiling will be finished. The interior doors will be pulled out of the abandoned Baptist Church this week so the construction company can install them. Plumbing fixtures will also be installed this week. So you can see much is going on as we enter what we hope to be the final month of construction. The target completion date and approval for occupancy is the first of June.
We expect to sign the contract for paving the parking lot by next week at the latest. Working with the paving company’s current work schedule, we hope to begin paving as soon as the Vacation Bible School is finished which would be the third week in June.
A special thanks to Bruce Raymond and Bart Holtz who laid the bathroom tile, removed the doors at the Baptist church and are currently installing the kitchen cabinets. Our thanks also to Paul Harrell who is helping them install the cabinets.
We have saved several thousand dollars by not having to pay Bold Construction to do the installation.
Fellowship Hall Update – 3/28/2017
Construction on the Fellowship Hall is coming along well. Inspection of the framing, electrical and plumbing was done early last week. Installation of the insulation in the entire building was completed Thursday and we expect the insulation inspection to be done Monday. The drywall has been delivered and as soon as the inspection is finished the subcontractors will begin hanging drywall. This could start as soon as next Tuesday with completion in about
two weeks.
We received a special gift from a friend of the church which allows s to install wire for a hearing loop into the concrete slab. That ork will occur sometime in the next two weeks. This will not omplete the hearing loop installation as there still needs to be lectronic equipment installed. At this time we do not have the
money to do the complete installation but at least with the wire nstalled we can do the rest whenever funds become available.
The planned completion of the Fellowship Hall is late May early June. It is possible the building will be finished sooner.
Jerry Wehmueller
Fellowship Hall Team
Fellowship Hall Update – 1/24/2017
The first phase of construction was begun with the pouring of the concrete slab for the Fellowship Hall on January 19 th . The rough framing will begin the following week. Construction should take six to eight months depending on weather.
Dr. Lawson of the Duke acoustical engineering department was finally able to complete his modeling of the FH for sound quality and send his recommendations to our architect, Keith Shaw. After meeting with Keith and Bold construction, it was decided to implement his recommendation to have acoustical tiled ceiling with a few inches of dead air space above it. It will also mean we will have to install the false beams during construction that were planned to be delayed into the future as a cost saving. This will result in additional cost but the team felt it was worth the extra funds to insure good sound quality.
We continue to look for ways to save money on the Hall. We will be using the interior doors from a vacated Baptist church in Chapel Hill in the FH that were donated by a developer who purchased that church. We were also able to receive a number of track lights, fire extinguishers, water fountains, and exit signs from a vacated commercial space in downtown CH for the new Hall. Keith will be incorporating the track lights in the design to light most of the rooms except the main room. Finally we are actively searching for kitchen appliances to be donated by residents who are renovating their kitchens. We have already received a used 48" Subzero refrigerator and a double oven that fits our needs. We still will try to find two automatic dishwashers, an electric stovetop, an exhaust hood, and two microwave ovens for our kitchen.
The Interior design committee has made some decisions on the kitchen cabinets, color selections, and floor surfaces. They will continue meeting in early February to finalize some of the selections still needed.
Finally, on behalf of the FH committee I would like to thank all of those members and friends who have started their pledge payments to pay for the FH. As construction continues we will need to continue to receive these pledge payments
Peace.
The Fellowship Hall team
December 11, 2016
Our wonderful children of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church break ground for the Fellowship Hall, after worship on a cold December 11, 2016, morning. Their participation warmed our congregation’s hearts as we all anticipate a grand opening in the summer of 2017.
Fellowship Hall Update
November 15, 2016
The construction contract for our new Fellowship Hall with Bold Construction was signed today. Final drawings were completed last week and Bold Construction submitted a request for the issuance of a building permit yesterday. The county still requires that an inspection be conducted on site to determine if any changes in the septic system are needed. We do not expect any problem with getting this approved since the original septic system was designed with a future Fellowship Hall in mind.
Dr. Dewey Lawson of the Duke acoustical engineering department completed his computer modeling of the hall and will meet with Keith Shaw, our architect, this week to discuss ways to make the acoustics of the new Hall as good as we can within the budget. This result of this discussion will not hold up issuance of the building permit and we expect to begin construction in the next few weeks with an eye to completion in six to eight months.
The Interior Design Committee, chaired by Joan Zollinger, met recently and finalized the cabinet selections, counter tops, etc. This committee will be responsible for selecting colors, furnishings, etc.
In order to save money, we found all but one of our interior doors at a recently abandoned Baptist church. We are also in search of good quality, but used kitchen appliances. These appliances come from renovated kitchens in homes Keith Shaw is designing and the residents are willing to donate. He already found a 48" Sub Zero refrigerator the resident was happy to donate to our church. If you know of anyone who is thinking about renovating his or her kitchen please let us know.
Your Fellowship Hall Committee
Fellowship Hall Update
August, 2016
The Fellowship Hall Design team met on August the 4th. The major part of the meeting was devoted to reviewing various suggestions on changes to the preliminary plans from members. The Design team decided to stay with the preliminary plans at least until a contractor was selected. The rest of the meeting was devoted to discussing various contractors in the area that are qualified to do the work needed. Keith will contact 3-4 firms and ask for a preliminary bid. Once those are received, we will interview the contractors that showed an interest and make our selection. After we select the contractor, he/she will become part of the team to finalize the details of Hall design. We plan to do the interviewing on September 8th.