Building Update

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Below is a summary of St. Mildred In-progress Review held on September 3, 2024.  Both Parish Finance Council and Parish Council were present or sent their proper designated representatives.

The Subcommittee Chairs presented updates in reference to St. Mildred’s Self-Study.  As such, we are now at the stage to move on to Step-5 (The Finance Plan).  Once our Finance Council has crunched the numbers it will submit their findings back to both Parish Councils, Subcommittee Chairs and Pastor for review.  The Self-Study will then be Drafted for review prior to presenting it to the Pastor for acceptance.  Prior to being presented to the Pastor, St. Mildred will hold a Parish Townhall for a Q&A.  Parish & Finance Councils and both Subcommittee Members, and Pastor will be present to answer questions.  

Once, Step-5: The Finance Plan, and the Parish Townhall Meeting concludes, a Final Draft of St. Mildred’s Self-Study will be ready to submitted to the Diocese for Property and Construction for Review, Comments, and Approval to move on to the next Phase of Construction and Building (Step-6: Hiring of the Architect). 

EXCERPT:

The "in progress" meeting of the Building Steering & Columbarium Committees with the participants of the Pastoral Council and Finance Council was conducted on Tuesday, September 3 at 10am.

The meeting was also attended remotely by Mr. Michael Wengenroth, the Director of the Diocesan Office of Property and Construction. 

 Mr. Wengenroth presented information and guidelines regarding:

·         estimated construction costs

New Construction of the separate church building is estimated to cost $624 per sq.ft., to include contingencies, some site work, architect fees, furnishing and equipment.

New Construction of a Parish Center with kitchen, social hall, classrooms and offices is estimated to cost $520 per sq. ft. to include contingencies, some site work, architect fees, furnishing and equipment.

The cost of renovating the current multipurpose space to become a church/worship space is difficult to estimate without detailed architectural plans.

·         size/seating capacity

The projected minimum space of the new church would have to be 550 seats, with the size of the church to be calculated at approx. 20 sq.ft. per seat, or 11,000 sq.ft. The design must allow for future expansion by 50% .

The size of the parish center was not discussed.

·         demographic and growth projections

 The demographics data presented was based on the State of North Carolina statistics and shows that general population in the area within 20 min. driving distance to the parish is now at 41,160 and is projected to grow 4.38% over the next five years, which translates to 1,800 additional people. The percentage of the population that would be Catholic and potentially joining the parish is estimated to be 4.38% of the total, which translates to 79 people, or 32 families (2.5 persons per family) joining our parish in the next five years. 

 The data suggests that our current multipurpose building, which seats 588 is not going to reach maximum capacity in the near future.

The meeting proceeded with the presentation of the Columbarium Committee.

The proposed design calls for initial installation of 100 niches at the cost of $153k, including the landscape, design and installation. Additional modules would be added in the future as needed. 

The committees will continue to work together to finalize the Self-Study, after receiving further guidance from the Finance Council regarding financial feasibility.