Whenever there's change, it's expected that there will be all sorts of questions. Get them answered here.
Why is Hancock-Wood building a new facility?
The number of people we serve and the ways we serve them have increased considerably over the decades. The present facility is housed in an aging, often-renovated office building built in 1953. This building can no longer accommodate growing requirements for more offices and storage. Plus, there is the increasing cost of various maintenance issues.
What will the new facility include?
The new facility will allow Hancock-Wood to better serve its members and improve internal employee efficiency. Some features include:
- An expanded garage/warehouse able to house the majority of our equipment and vehicles indoors for the first time ever.
- A specially designed meeting room with much larger capacity and thus, increased capabilities for internal and community use.
- A larger, more open lobby for members, as well as Prism Propane customers.
- Increased meeting space and individual rooms for departments.
- A centrally located resource/library storage room for employees.
- A larger kitchen and break room, as well as an employee fitness area.
- Public display of company historical artifacts and documents.
The initial plan is to contain about 75,000 total square feet: 40,000 square feet for garage and warehouse space, and 35,000 square feet for office space. Our current facility contains about 44,000 square feet.
Where will the new building be located?
Off the south side of State Route 18 in North Baltimore, west of I-75. We will be only about a mile from our current location, still right in the heart of our service territory. See a map in our office location section.
Has Hancock-Wood always been located in North Baltimore?
Yes. Read more in our office history section.
What is the duration of the building project?
The construction phase of the building project is scheduled to last about 15 months. Read more in our timeline section.
How much will the new building cost?
We anticipate a total cost of around $8 million.
What happened to the original projected $5 million cost?
Our preliminary numbers were a very rough estimate based on an evaluation of our initial needs. Once we started looking at specific needs and incorporating them into detailed designs, we put these decisions into formal bids, which came in much higher than expected. We have also had to deal with increases in material costs and labor since our initial estimates.
Who designed it, and who is building it?
The architect is Malcolm Associates (Goshen, IN), who was chosen for their experience working with an electric cooperative in Indiana, and are known for meeting client needs in creative ways.
The general contractor is Clouse Construction (New Riegel, OH), who has a strong reputation as one of the most reliable, respected and recognized builders in our area.
Will my rates increase because of the new building?
No. There will be no direct effect on the distribution cost of your bill as a result of this building. This is not to say that your wholesale energy costs won't go up in the next few years. In fact, we fully expect that the costs of wholesale power will continue to go up gradually. Remember, your electric bill is made up of both local charges (distribution) and the cost of power (generation and transmission). At HWEC, we control the distribution costs through smart investment and management.
How will Hancock-Wood pay for the new building?
The construction will be financed through a combination of debt and general funds.
Why a new building instead of renovating the current one?
We carefully reviewed the idea of expanding and renovating our existing building and location, but came to the following conclusions through the assistance of consultants and architects:
- There is not enough surrounding land to expand at our existing site. We are landlocked to the west by the highway, and to the north and east by roads.
- Even if we were to have expended our existing site, it would have been the last time we could expand this building due to these land constraints. We did not believe this was sound decision-making for planning into the future.
- Building modification options were limited due to the type of construction used for our existing facility. The structure could not be expanded upward due to load factors, and its current shape was quite abnormal due to the various expansions over the past years.
- We could not expand the existing garage space for line vehicles due to zoning and limited land to expand.
- We were hindered in terms of network wiring and systems to support our expanding computer needs and employees.
- Several existing maintenance issues were very costly to fix. Our building is in need of major repair in many expensive areas: reworked plumbing, entire roof replacement and an antiquated internal electrical system, to name a few.
What will happen to the old building once the new one is finished?
We plan to sell the facility. We believe its location along I-75 -- near an exit, no less -- will be appealing to buyers.
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