The Project Wide Advisory Committee has cleared the way for a $3 million woodworking shop to be built on land donated by the Developer.
The 1.3-acre parcel of land on which the woodshop would be built is on South Buena Vista Boulevard across from Eisenhower Recreation Center and behind The Villages Public Safety Department’s Fire Station 46.
The Villages Woodworkers Club Inc. has 1,100 members and a long waiting list. The club’s original home, the Rolling Acres Woodshop facility, is approximately 7,900 square feet, and has a difficult time satisfying the woodworkers’ demand for shop time. It’s daily usage is dictated, in large part, by how many vehicles will fit into its parking lot.
The projected cost for the new facility is estimated to be approximately $3 million, including the actual cost of the construction for a newly designed woodshop building, the parking lot, exterior hardscape, parking lot lighting and landscaping of an approximately 13,000-square-foot woodshop building.
The Developer will donate the land and provide construction management oversight.
The Villages Woodworkers Club has proposed to operate and provide support, equipment, supplies and services for the location in a manner consistent with the management, oversight and operations of the Rolling Acres Woodshop. The club will help pay for utilities and information technology services.
The District would retain ownership of the building.
Construction of the new facility could take seven to eight months from the time the project receives final approval.
PWAC members heard the plans in a meeting Tuesday morning and gave the project their blessing.
“I think this organization is one of the top organizations in The Villages,” PWAC Chairman Peter Moeller said of The Villages Woodworkers Club.
