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Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority is proposing a $ 27.3 million multi-agency land resource building that would make it more convenient for those looking to build, expand or sell a home, according to Ray Topasna, executive director of GHURA .
GHURA offers the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission to potentially host all government land agencies. The Dipattamenton Guma yan Tano Facilidat, or Land and Real Estate Resources Building, would make it more convenient for those looking to build, expand or sell a house, Topasna said.
The proposal to the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission would make it the owner. GHURA would also eventually be an owner and a tenant, and Land Management would be the owner and a tenant.
Topasna said the agencies that could move into the facility are:
the Ancestral Lands Commission;
Department of Land Management;
CHAmoru Land Trust Commission;
Hagåtña Restoration and Redevelopment Authority;
Guam Housing Corporation; and
GHURA.
There are 55,000 homes in Guam, with an estimated 10,000 more to be built by 2025, according to GHURA’s 2020 Housing Study and Needs Assessment, Topasna said.
“What we think might work is a marriage between land and housing. This is why we propose to build a land and resources building that integrates all land agencies, or land agencies and land agencies. housing, â€he said.
GHURA offers to assist land agencies with every stage of the proposed project, including completing the design of the facility, signing an engineer on the design, and managing the construction efforts.
Topasna said discussions about a land resource building have been going on for more than a decade and the Land Management Ministry paid an architectural engineering company to create a design several years ago. The design, however, is expected to change to take into account current international building codes. The design was also never approved by a professional engineer.
The facility will be located in HagÃ¥tña, across from Cassidy’s Associated Insurers Inc., near West O’Brien Drive and Julale Shopping Center. It would consist of three distinct structures: the main facility building; a concrete parking structure; and a cooling plant or mechanical room.
Sonny Perez, Director of Architectural Engineering at GHURA, said the estimated cost of the main building is $ 20 million, the cost of the parking structure will be $ 6.2 million, and the mechanical room will cost $ 1, $ 1 million.
Emergency needed
The proposed program management schedule provides for a minimum of approximately seven months for all administrative agreements to be drafted and signed, for concept and design to be approved by an engineer, and for construction procurement. Construction is expected to take about two years.
Perez said urgency was needed for the project as construction costs for skilled labor and materials will only increase in the future due to many military development projects.
“We are in competition with the military. We are seeing a lot of crazy price increases. … I don’t think these price increases are stopping, just because we have to compete with the military in terms of resources and, of course, their deep pockets, â€he said.
Cost recovery
Topasna said the facility will also reduce rent costs for the Guam government, as most land agencies pay rent at the ITC building in Tamuning – Ancestral Lands, Land Trust, Guam Housing and Land Management.
In 2016, GovGuam paid $ 3.7 million in rent for these four land agencies.
Topasna offered several reimbursement strategies for the new building. The agency would provide $ 15 million in seed money, and the balance would either be covered by GHURA and GovGuam or by potential American Rescue Plan Act funds.
He said the parking structure might be able to self-finance if the parking fees were assessed.
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