It was an exercise in number-crunching when the figures for the Moravian Cafes came rolling in -- adding up to an amount that made University officials whistle.
While Penn anticipated a budget of $750,000 for renovation of the eateries, located at 3401 Walnut St., contractor bids totaled $1.1 to $1.2 million. The difference prompted the University to employ "value engineering" to trim down unnecessary costs.
Director of Real Estate Operations Ed Datz said that the discrepancy was not the result of Penn trying to get more bang for its buck.
"The budget itself was something we felt was reflective of the work that was designed. We don't plan on going to bids looking for savings out of a bid process. We try to create a realistic budget up front," he said.
The financial restructuring occurred at the end of last semester.
It is in part for this reason, officials say, that the opening of the cafes has been delayed until at least mid-November. It was originally scheduled to open this month.
"Although you go into it with a sense of cost per square foot, when it doesn't ... play out in the bid, you're looking for items you'll ... sacrifice," Datz said. "The value-engineering process, unfortunately, is painful and time-consuming."
Tile-finishing in specific areas of the eatery was taken out of the project to help meet the revised budget range of $750,000 to $800,000. Elaborate signs above the individual vendors' spaces were also simplified.
"It'll serve its function as identification, but it won't have the materials that were used to give it an additional punch," Datz said. He said that the main goal is to maintain functionality and an affordable level of aesthetics.
The project experienced an unexpected delay due to complicated lease negotiations, a lag in the design process and rising construction costs.
Currently, the mid-November date is still tentative.
The contractor, Merion Development, refused to comment on the specifics of the delay.
While stressing that the Iraq war and the corresponding drain on building materials is not a key link in the Moravian Cafes' delayed opening, Datz said that it has an effect nonetheless.
"It's pulling resources, and those resources are not only material resources, but it's manpower," he said.
However, Philadelphia-based construction consultant James Hamje, said that the construction taking place in Iraq is not putting a significant strain on the increased costs of building materials because that kind of construction involves "heavy infrastructures."
"The prices of materials went up fairly rapidly, faster than the general consumer index," he said.
Hamje added that a number of external and internal factors can account for a contractor's failure to deliver a product on time, such as utility problems, an overly aggressive work schedule, impractical deadlines and "an overall competitive bidding."
"The way to get around it is money," he said.
