The Building Expansion Team is excited to update everyone on the hard work we have been doing to move us towards our new sanctuary!Â
Over the last few months, we have been meeting regularly with our architects, contractor, the city of Fort Collins, and working with different vendors as we move closer to our groundbreaking date.Â
We’re happy to report that we remain in our estimates, on our budget as approved in our early 2021 congregational meeting. While we had a few hiccups to work through, we currently still have just under 5% contingency built into the project budget that has not yet been allocated.Â
As we’ve engaged in the permitting process, we have encountered a couple of delays that have shifted our timeline by a few months in terms of when the building will be complete. We are now looking at a March 2022 groundbreaking and early 2023 grand re-opening. While we’re a little sad to miss Christmas 2022 in our building as we’d originally thought – we are thrilled that 2023 coincides with our 125th anniversary as a congregation! We will celebrate and dedicate our new building as part of this milestone in our history!Â
Our next big report will come in our November congregational meeting – please let us know what questions you are curious about between now and then! You can always get more details about our project at foothillsuu.org/building-expansion. Â
In partnership,Â
Foothills Building Expansion Team, buildingexpansion@foothillsuu.org
Building for Courageous Love Takes Us All!
While we are amazed by the generosity of giving so far, we still need consistent funding to make all the necessary building updates a reality! If you’ve already pledged to the Capital Campaign, please click HERE to contribute towards your pledge.
If you’d like to make a pledge or increase your pledge to the Capital Campaign, please contact Katie Watkins at katie@foothillsuu.org (you can do so before or after making your first contribution!)
One-time donations to the Capital Campaign are also welcome!
Tree News
As many of you know, some of our beloved trees will be affected by the expansion. We are excited to report that the Oak Tree on the patio will be staying! We also had that tree professionally trimmed this week. (As some of you noted, it had grown tremendously, and it was time for a good prune!)
We also have a large Cottonwood tree on the West side of the building that is very unhealthy and almost entirely dead. We are working on removing it as soon as possible. The Climate Justice Team is discussing ideas for repurposing the wood when we bring it down. Until it is removed, please exercise caution by keeping a safe distance from that tree. Until further notice, we have closed our West Parking lot to protect people and vehicles in the unexpected event of heavy winds and a large branch falling.