Art Center Cost Soars to $46.4 Million : Construction: Cerritos City Council members will probably discuss the grander building plan in budget sessions next week.

The cost of the Community Art Center, which has soared from an estimated $17.5 million to $46.4 million in three years, is likely to dominate discussion during next week’s hearing on the city’s 1990-91 budget.

The glass and granite building is under construction in the Towne Center redevelopment area.

The budget will be discussed in a council study session at 7 p.m. Monday and at a public hearing at 7 p.m. June 21.

“It’s a piece of change, no doubt about it,” Councilman Paul W. Bowlen said of the 1,800-seat center. He said he is not sure he would have voted for the arts center had he been on the council when it was approved in 1987. He has been on the council for two years.

“I’m a little surprised to hear that,” Councilman John Crawley said when told about the $46.4-million cost.

Eight years ago when he ran unsuccessfully for a council seat, he opposed the idea of the arts center. He was elected to the council in April this year.

“It’s a different situation now that I’m on the council,” Crawley said. “The deal is done and I’m going to be as supportive as I can be.” However, he added, he will ask for a complete accounting of the costs when the council meets Monday night.

Mayor Ann B. Joynt, who has long opposed the center, said: “I figure that by the time we get through all the change orders we’ll be at about $50 million.”

Joynt said she will ask the city staff to prepare a detailed programming plan for the council, because she wants to see that the facility is used to its maximum. “I want to make sure that the programming itself reflects what people want and that it reflects our many cultures,” she said.

At budget time last year, the cost of the 125,000-square-foot arts center was $35.1 million. However, the council should not be surprised that the cost shown in this year’s budget is up $11 million, said Kurt Swanson, the city’s director of human affairs. He will oversee the arts center management.

The council last August awarded construction contracts that came in much higher than the architect’s estimate, Swanson said.

The arts center project, however, is much grander in scale than it was three years ago, when the council voted to build it for an estimated $17.5 million.

By the time the architect finished drawing the plans and the council added extra rooms for community events, as well as high-tech features such as movable walls, floors and seating, the estimate had risen to $31.7 million.

After that, the lowest bids from general contractors and the construction managers came in at $40.9 million. That was on top of other construction costs such as those for acoustical consultants, theater design consultants and architects, Swanson said.

Swanson said nothing has changed since the contracts were signed last summer and that the center will be a boon to the city and to its commercial developers. “It’s an economic draw for the area,” Swanson said. The Towne Center redevelopment area includes a Sheraton hotel and will include 20 office buildings when it is completed.

The arts center, which is to be completed early in 1992, is being paid for with city redevelopment and sales tax money.

Swanson also pointed out that the change orders that Joynt is worried about have totaled only $61,625 so far and that the project is 25% completed.

The overall cost is unsettling to council members. “We can’t stop now. It’s like a boat with a hole in the bottom,” said Councilman Daniel Wong.

Overall, the proposed city budget that the council will discuss next week is $73.4 million, including the redevelopment agency’s spending and all capital improvement spending for the agency and the city. The 1989-90 budget is $66 million.