Conference Center Cost

In today's S-H-T, an article about the latest cost estimate for Sarasota's new downtown police station indicates it has increased significantly since the initial estimates were made about 2 years ago.

Todays estimates are $200 to $230 per sq ft, compared to $130 to $150, two years ago. This is an increase of about a little over 50% on a square footage basis.

Applying a similar escalation to the estimated conference center building cost of $55M, shows that today the conference center costs might approach $82M. The original estimate of the conference center cost was developed by CS&L (the consultant) in mid-2003.

Rapidly rising building costs are a factor in Florida and around the country. Any conference center proposal needs to take into consideration todays cost reality.