Building Committee Report

After several rounds of submittals and responses, Maricopa County issued the permit for the building of the new church edifice on 31 May 2007. 

The building committee completed evaluation of bids submitted by the four different General Contractors.  The building committee unanimously selected Summit Express as the general contractor on Wednesday 18 April 2007 and then issued a letter of intent to Summit Express.  Summit Builders Express delivered the final contract delivered to the church on Thursday 14 June 2007.  The Building Committee reviewed the contract and then Parish Council President Harry Kantarze signed the contract with the Building Committee present at the church office on 21 June 2007.  The picture below is the signing of the contract.

Summit Builders Express started construction on 5 July 2007.  Build commenced with the final site survey.  Construction of the new church edifice has been proceeding smoothly since the start and is on track to be completed by late April 2008.  As of 9 October 2007, construction is near the 30 percent complete mark.  The foundation of the church was poured and framing of the church walls is well underway.  The bell tower has reached a height of 41 feet without the dome.  Once the dome is installed, the bell tower will reach a total height of 47 feet 4 inches.

The retention area to the west of school building, between the community center and the church is nearing completion.  The parish council has selected to use artificial turf with safety padding in the area with the playground equipment.  The rest of the area will have landscaping that was designed by parishioner Lee Bowen that includes shrubs and accents such as Green Cloud Sage and Mexican Barrio Ruellia and Swan Hill Olive trees.  The building committee and the parish council thank Lee Bowen for the excellent landscaping design work donated to the church.  The final landscaping of the retention area and area under the playground equipment should be completed by or before the end of October 2007.

The selection of the pews and pew contractor has been completed.  Our church Architect Nick Tsontakis designed the pews to match the styling of the church.  Samples of the selected stain in ash and the leather for the kneelers were presented to the parish after Sunday service in August.  The building committee submitted the bid from The Marshall Company for hard wood pews of ash with kneelers designed with enough seating for 575 parishioners to the parish council for approval since this is an expenditure from the Building Fund and not the Construction Account.  The parish council approved the purchase of the pews from The Marshall Company on 9 August 2007.

The design of the Iconostasio, pulpit, chanters stand, baptismal font, and Bishops throne was developed by Nick Tsontakis and presented to the building committee.  The building committee has been working with the general contractor and subcontractors to receive bids to build these elements.  The Iconostasio will be constructed from metal framing similar to the wall framing of the church and covered with marble.  The Church Architect and the building committee are working on obtaining sample materials for the flooring and Iconostasio. 

Yours in Christ,

Pete Fardelos

Kevin Wilder

Building Co-Chairman