The cost of converting the Fort Worden Guardhouse Visitor Center into a pub and restaurant is climbing.

The Fort Worden Public Development Authority (PDA) board learned last week that estimated costs of the conversion, initially budgeted at $150,000, were up to $250,000. The estimate now stands at $316,000.

The board decided to move forward on converting the historic building for use as a "pub," called Taps at the Guardhouse, serving alcoholic beverages, plus lunch and dinner.

"We hope to serve a full range of beverage options," said Todd Gubler, who was hired as general manager at Fort Worden in January.

Gee Heckscher, a retired architect (specializing in historic preservation) and secretary of the PDA’s executive committee, has been working with architect Richard Berg and PDA executive director Dave Robison on planning the renovation.

At the May 27 meeting, the PDA board learned that renovation costs are likely to exceed the original budget, Heckscher and Robison said.

Kitchen and back-bar equipment, including six or seven pieces of refrigeration equipment and a beer cooler in the basement with taps, is estimated at $95,000, Robison said. Because the guardhouse (1904) is a historic building (Fort Worden is a National Historic Site), it is not possible to install a Class A hood, range and fryer, with their associated exterior ventilation equipment.

Food is to be prepared at the commercial kitchen in the Commons, about 75 yards away, and finished in the pub kitchen before service. This is standard restaurant procedure, Gubler said.

The pub furniture is to cost about $30,000. Consultant fees add about $25,000, Heckscher said, and the cost of construction is yet to go out to bid.

The PDA board haggled a bit over the procedures for authorizing Robison to go ahead and order the kitchen equipment before the total costs were finalized. Jeffery Jackson, chair of the PDA's technology committee, said the board should withhold approval until receiving a memo with a final cost.

“I am just asking for a little more refined range of outcomes,” said Jackson, who was bothered by the wide range of estimated cost overruns, as much as $100,000.

At the May 27 meeting, the board discussed capping the pub spending at $250,000 or $300,000.

“The pub is going in, no matter what,” said Anne Murphy, advocating for moving forward, and thereby hastening the pub's ability to start earning money for the PDA, rather than waiting for “hard numbers.”

The PDA board gave the executive committee the authority to move forward on the project. The executive committee met June 1 and developed a final estimated budget for Taps at $316,000, said Scott Wilson, vice-chair of the PDA board.

Funding is to come from a $1 million grant from an anonymous donor. Until the PDA has the money in hand, the pub project's start date is on hold.

"While that money has been verbally committed three times, we don't have a document," Wilson said. The executive committee is waiting to move forward on construction (including ordering equipment) until that grant is confirmed, he said.

The grant would also help fund renovation of Building 305 (the long, narrow building behind the guardhouse), currently the Washington State Parks' maintenance shop, into an arts and education center, but that depends on whether the state legislature approves $2 million to be spent on a new maintenance shop. "A bunch of things are up in the air," Wilson said.

When the pub plan was announced in January, Robison estimated it could cost $100,000 and open in June. The new venture is expected to operate at a net loss for one year, Robison noted.

ALCOHOL CHOICE

Beer and wine are served at the Fort Worden Commons Cafe. "The food services at the Fort has always maintained liquor licenses for their respective venues and events for the past eight years," Gubler wrote in an email to the Leader.

Community member and citizen watchdog David Goldman asked the PDA board to take note of the liability of promoting alcohol at Fort Worden. He pointed out that City of Port Townsend municipal code 17.24.020 prohibits the sale of alcohol in parks; the city has interpreted the code to say it’s OK at conference centers. The PDA has leased the 90-acre upper campus area at the 434-acre Fort Worden State Park.

Goldman said the pub can be seen as an example of the context within which decisions are made. The state’s reduction in parks funding led to the creation of the PDA, which is now putting in a pub. “History is driving us to making decisions that otherwise might not have been made,” he said. “It can be a slippery slope.”

“People already drink at the Fort,” Gubler said at the May 27 board meeting. “And this would probably be way more controlled.”

“It’s going to be one more learning experience,” Heckscher said.

VISITOR CENTER

The guardhouse served the U.S. Army at Fort Worden from 1904 to 1953, located at the four-way intersection inside the main gate. Friends of Fort Worden volunteers and museum hosts staffed it as a visitor center and gift shop, although public hours were inconsistent. The Friends group has relocated at its own expense into Building 200, which had been the check-in desk used by Washington State Parks. Friends of Fort Worden had been a fundraising and volunteer resource for State Parks, and is now dedicated to assisting the PDA.