Newspaper Page Text
Flagpole Magazine
Page 12
December 4, 1991
A Letter from Polshek and Partners
November 13, 1991
Mr. W.M. Overend
Flagpole Magazine
P.0. Box 1027
Athens, Georgia 30601
Re: Clarke County Civic Center
Dear Mr. Overend:
We Received a copy of your article "Answers to the
Polshek problem" and were quite astounded by the inaccu
racies and misleading innuendoes contained therein. If
your goal was to truly uncover the facts, one would have
expected you to be more thorough in your
research and less biased in your presenta
tion. I have used your headings as references
to sections within your article
Client Firm Relationship
You are quite right in your description, that
a proper Client — Architect relationship con
sists of good communication and the
architect’s need to do whatever is necessary
so that “the client is happy." This was exactly
the nature of the relationship between JSP&P
and the Clarke County Board of Commission
ers/Classic Center Authority (our client). The
fact that the client was not responding to the
requests of special interest groups was
something outside our domain. The problem,
as you see it, arose when the new, unified
government took form, and a commission
made up of constituents with different priori
ties became part of the client base. Despite
our attempts in February, without renumeration, to find a
compromise that would satisfy a majority of the client
representatives, a consensus did not exist and individual
commissioners began acting independently and moving in
different directions. At that point, we were locked into a
design formally accepted under the conditions of our
contract with no way to move beyond that without explicit
instructions from the new commission.
Cost Analysis
The 17.3 million dollars to which you refer was an
estimate carried out by us at 80% complete Construction
Documents. Previous estimates had put the project on
budget at 17 million dollars. A subsequent evaluation by
the construction manager at 95% complete Construction
documents confirmed the budget at 17 million dollars, the
design process for a project like the Clarke County Civic
Center, involving multiple building types requires the de
velopment of a complex analytic matrix that allows for the
continual evaluation of multiple factors for long - term value
versus first cost impact. One must be extremely careful
when representing facts outside the context of this proc
ess, for they can be very misleading. Unfortunately, this
has been the case for much of the press coverage on this
project.
Over Budget
JSP&P provided a Master Plan and a program for the
Jacob Javits Convention Center. The Architect and
Designer for the project was I.M. Pei and Partners. JSP&P
did no design work on the project. The budget overrun was
a result of the indictment of a number of contractors who
worked on the project, plus technical problems with the
space frame nodes designed by I.M. Pei and Partners. I
would also note that the only similarities we have ever
presented between this project and the Clarke County
Civic Center is the existence of exhibition and meeting
room space, and JSP&P’s experience with programming
for this type of facility. The Jacob Javits Convention Center
has no theater, and its total area of 1, 800, 000 square feet
far exceeds the 140, 000 square feet of the Clarke County
Civic Center.
A more accurate example of the work of JSP&P is the
225, 000 square foot Rochester Convention Center. We
were responsible for this project from programming through
construction. Bids were received 2 million dollars under
budget, which allowed the addition of some 1.5 million
dollars of additional scope to the project. A more recent
example of our Cost Control efforts is the Sacramento
Memorial Auditorium. Two weeks ago, a public bid proc
ess concluded with a low bid of 25.5 million, compared to
a 26 million dollar budget and construction estimate.
Other Problems
The program by which we were instructed to design is
quite different from the numbers you quote:
Contractual
JSP&P
program SF
Scheme I SF
Meeting Rooms
4,000
4,128
Ballroom/Banquet Hall
10,000
9,975
Kitchen
5,000
4,900
Exhibit Hall
25,000
21,600"
Theater (number of seats)
1,600
1,700
"The Construction Documents contain an alternate to
build an additional 3,690 square feet of exhibition hall
space for a total of 25,290, if the bids allow
And Yet
You state that the point of your effort was to find facts
All the facts to which I have made reference are public
information and readily available. Some of the information
was, in fact, sent to you directly when requested for the
purpose of writing your article.
And Now
We have been notified that our client is now preparing
a formal revision of the design program for the project,
which we will receive shortly. With this information =,
developed with the support and agreement of the commis
sion and the authority, we can evaluate the state of comple
tion of the project and determine what will need
to be done to incorporate those changes.
We came to Athens to design a Civic Center
that is competitive in the convention, exhibit and
conference market, that can be built within an
available budget, and that will reinforce the
pride that Athenians have in their city. JSP&P
has never waived from its commitment to fulfill
that responsibility, and we are delighted to be
able to resume work.
We hope that past efforts to discredit JSP&P
in the hope of obtaining support for other prefer
ences are behind us and that future journalistic
efforts within Athens will begin to focus on the
positive issues this project presents for the fu
ture visitors, users, operators, and ultimately,
the citizens of Athens and Clarke County as a
whole.
Sincerely.
Tim Hartung
A reply: Apparently, there are some facts on which Mr
Hartung and myself disagree. Most notably, the square
footage requirements listed in his letter do not correspond
with the figures in the original program. I'll be lookng into
these discrepancies soon, and believe me, if I'm wrong,
then I'll admit it Until then, my opinion remains that the
Polshek firm is a capable, reputable firm, and I in no way
mean to insinuate that they are anything but that. Mr.
Hartung has responded to alleged attacks against his firm
which do not exist. Most notably, if one reads the “Client -
Firm Relationship" section of Polshek Problems - Part 1, if
is obvious that there is no blame being placed on the
Polshek firm Clearly, they know the extent of a proper and
effective client - firm relationship. Nevertheless, the rela
tionship did deteriorate, and the fault lies somewhere
My purpose was and always is to try to find the facts, or
let the lack thereof speak for itself. My personal feelings on
this or any issue are irrelevant to my writing and always will
be The Polshek/Civic Center issue is a mess, it has been
a mess for the past year and it will probably continue to be
a mess for a while yet. I'm sorry if that fact comes out in
anything I ve written, but it is the truth. But let me state once
and for all that I am on no side of this issue I thank Mr
Hartung for responding to my article Responsible behav
ior like that prevents misunderstanding and that's an impor
tant thing in this day and age. Plus, I love getting mail, it
makes me feel wanted
W.M. Overend
Call Your Commissioners
and let them know how you feel!
THE GOVERNMENT IS YOURS
lal DuValh*549-1349
Miriam Moore • 548-0329
John Barrow *353-6584
Marilyn Farmer *548-2385
Ken Jordan* 549-5435
Charles Carter *543-9155
L/nny Bailey* 546-9013
Hugh Logan *543W3
Cardee Kilpatrick* 548-2023
Tom Chasteen* 549-2655