The town’s building commission last night unanimously recommended that First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove open negotiations with Quisenberry Arcari of Farmington to redesign and renovate the town’s community center at 46 Church St. The new center will include facilities for seniors.
The commission acted after interviewing in executive session six architecture firms, all from Connecticut, on June 11. The commission met for six hours that day, hearing from each firm. At the end of this session the informal consensus was to hire Quisenberry Arcari. Click here to read a recent story on the process.
Board member Paul Cianci said each of the six firms put a good deal of thought into its presentation. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but each did a great job.”
Marci Palluzzi, another board member, said she was particularly impressed with Quisenberry Arcari because “they took the planning further than what had previously been presented. I felt they were able to identify some objectives and concerns that based on their experience with senior centers we really didn’t see from the others.”
From the outset, the commission seemed to admire Quisenberry Arcari’s work. Palluzzi said, in response to a question, that she was impressed with the way the firm “talked about the spaces… and their general way they looked at programming for the building itself. They took an independent look based on their experience. They took it a step further.”
Peter Banca, commission chair, said the firm had worked on 25 senior centers. Some of these centers, he said, “had the unique situation we have, where it is going to be a community center and a senior center. That will be very helpful to us.
“They had also been down to the site and looked at the flood issue that exists at Hammer Field and already have an idea of what they are going to have to do to flood proof the building,” he said.
Cianci, an engineer, said all the firms “brought different strengths to the table. It wasn’t easy,” he said of the group’s decision.
Leonard Tasmin, commission member, asked about next steps. Banca said Cosgrove would contact Quisenberry Arcari, possibly today. Banca said the other firms would be notified as well.
“We will be doing this again,” Banca observed of future building projects. “We want everybody coming back to us saying I want a piece of Branford.”
The only financial aspect the commission discussed centered on a firm’s hourly rates. No overall budget was raised.
The next regular meeting of the commission is scheduled for July 22 at 7 p.m. at fire headquarters.
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