ST. JOHNSBURY — The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium has run into a $2 million roadblock in its plan to expand its building for the first time since 1895.
Last fall, leaders at the St. Johnsbury museum believed workers could break ground this spring on the 6,000-square-foot, three-story upgrade. But costs for the project came in at $4.9 million, which was $2 million more than anticipated, a 69% increase, said Adam Kane, the museum’s executive director.
“Multiple pieces just didn’t quite hit the way we had hoped,” Kane said Tuesday. “And now we have this result.”
Construction plans have been pushed back until “as early in 2022 as we can,” he said.
The museum had been considering an expansion of the historic sandstone and limestone building on Main Street for a few years. In the beginning, the goal was to improve access to the museum’s second-floor balcony — which guests can reach only via narrow spiral staircases — and to its basement.
The addition would include an elevator that stops on all three floors of the building and feature new meteorology and astronomy exhibits — hands-on activities in a facility that has historically preached a look-but-don’t-touch philosophy.
Plans also called for the addition to be made entirely of mass timber, a wood building material that’s become increasingly popular in the U.S. and considered better for the environment by advocates than more traditional materials. The addition, Kane said in the fall, would be Vermont’s first entirely mass-timber building.
But that building material ultimately played a role in the recent setback.
Lumber prices nationwide rose dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in 2021.
“We definitely, without a doubt, saw that materials increased — whether it was through lumber particularly [or] almost every other material,” Kane said.
The project’s previous construction cost estimate was made in December 2020, before the price spike. By the time construction bids were sought this spring, that estimate was “like ancient history,” Kane said.
Museum leaders had anticipated pandemic-related inflation, he said, but a cost increase of nearly 70% was “just a bridge too far to proceed now.”
Materials prices were not the only factor.
Contractors — especially subcontractors focusing on specific parts of the project — were more tied up than usual, Kane said, whittling the pool of bidders.
That might also be connected to the way the pandemic has affected the markets. Builders said last summer that demand for their services had gone up more than expected.
Planners also got caught up in design approvals, and so were late delivering the materials requesting bids, Kane said, and many possible bidders were already booked up.
The project is still planned, Kane said, but tinkering with the architecture could save costs.
At the same time, it will ramp up its fundraising efforts. The expansion has been backed mostly by grants and donations — with a lead donation of $600,000, about $500,000 in foundation money, and almost $900,000 in federal grants and loans.
Museum leaders also hoped another $2 million federal grant would cover the bulk of construction costs, but the museum’s application wasn’t approved, Kane said.
Despite the delay, Kane said he’s optimistic about the project.
“For the Fairbanks Museum, this is a place that has been around 130 years,” he said. “We can wait another eight months.”
