Erie Events continues to move forward with plans for a year-round, multimillion-dollar indoor market house on the city’s west bayfront.
But the organization now believes the facility’s price tag has gone up significantly — and it will be seeking additional financing for the project.
Gus Pine, Erie Events’ executive director, said that based on new construction cost estimates and other data, the facility is expected to cost between $10 million and $12 million.
Erie Events previously estimated the market house’s cost at between $7.5 million and $10 million. The facility is planned for property adjacent to the 12.5-acre former GAF Materials Corp. site, just north of the Bayfront Parkway near State Street.
Pine said the project cost has been adjusted based on two construction estimates received for the project. “Price escalation related to inflation and simply the passage of time played the larger role,” Pine said.
As a result, Erie Events has adjusted plans for the market house.
A two-story structure is now planned instead of a building with three floors, Pine said. Further, the building’s footprint has been scaled down slightly, so it will contain 27,000 square feet instead of nearly 32,000 feet of space, Pine said.