| Divine Renovation of Historic Sanctuary |
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Project Manager, Mark Cunningham and Pastor Jack Buckley
The congregation of First Pres is committed to the maintenance of our 102 year old Sanctuary building, located on the corner of Santa Clara Ave and Chestnut St. We’re justifiably proud of this local architectural treasure, foremost as an inspirational place of worship, but also for it’s inclusion on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Sanctuary building is also recognized on both the State and City Registries. This recent renovation strengthens and beautifies our church, creating a firm foundation for continued worship and community outreach, for the benefit of future generations.
In the spring of 2003, as directed by our Session and Pastor Jack Buckley, we began a three phased Sanctuary renovation project. Phase One work was completed that September, in preparation for our Centennial Celebration. This work included the repair and painting of the Sanctuary steps and South Entry façade, the cleaning and repair of the stain glass windows, the replacement of yellowed plastic window coverings with clear safety glass and the exterior painting of the church. The total cost of this second phase was $220,000.
We’ve completed Phase Two work which included structural reinforcement of our foundation, shear wall and ceiling. These repairs necessitated the subsequent patching and painting of the Sanctuary interior. These repairs created such a mess, the time seemed right to restore the original Douglas fir floors & pews, along with adding new entry carpet and aisle runners. The total Phase Two cost was $380,000.
Our Phase One team has been largely kept intact for the Phase Two effort. The project manager representing First Pres on all phases has been Mark Cunningham. Mark is a member of the church, the Alameda Chamber of Commerce, and an Alameda resident. He has been the President and owner of People Space, LLC for the past 22 years specializing in project management, space management, planning, design and renovation solutions for a wide range of workplaces. His “day job” is as a consulting project manager at UCSF, Medical Center, office of Design and Construction. Mark worked with the church’s leadership, or Session, to determine the project’s scope and budget, gathered competitive cost estimates from local Alameda companies, awarded and managed the contracts, and made sure the work was performed in a cost effective and timely manner. Sue Earlywine, our Office Manager, assisted in almost every step of both phases, cheerfully handling both the mundane and complex project related requests.
The lead engineer is Vincent Wu of Baseline Engineering of Alameda, California. Mr. Wu has worked on various churches and large buildings for repair and seismic retrofitting for 18 years. Mr. Wu has been a consultant on repair of First Pres of Alameda since 1997.
The construction work on the Sanctuary was contracted to another local Alameda firm, Buestad Construction, Inc. Ken Carvahlo represented Buestad, as the on-site supervisor of both phases of exterior and interior Sanctuary work.
The painting of both the exterior and interior has been in the very able hands of Caesar Cataldo of Cataldo Painting. Yes, you guessed it, he’s another Alameda based company.
The fundraising was led by the Chairman of the Finance and Stewardship Committee, Mark Hovermale. He has been chairman for two years and led the team in the raising of the funds in the 2003 church centennial project. Mr. Hovermale has an MBA from UC Berkeley and worked in the finance department of AT&T for 20 years. He has been succeeded as Finance Chair by Andy Weber, the owner of Weber Mechanical, an Alameda HVAC and plumbing company.
First Pres hired Craig Reynolds as the fundraising consultant for this project. Mr. Reynolds has worked on similar fund raising projects for 18 years and has conducted dozens of capital drives.
A few of the many community events held at First Pres:
• The “Music at First Pres” concert series. This is a series of concerts by the finest artists in the Bay Area. These artists provide world-class chamber music, opera, folk, and classical performances to the community for either free or an optional offering as low as $10.
• Pipescreams. Halloween entertainment, games, and food.
• The Alameda Home Tour. A tour of historic Alameda Homes starting at First Presbyterian Church and ending there with a tea.
• A concert benefiting the Midway Shelter for Abused Women and Children.
• A concert benefiting the Alameda Education Foundation.
• The Alameda Chamber of Commerce December Mixer.
• Various other events requiring a venue similar to an auditorium or concert hall.
• The most beautiful venue in Alameda for weddings.
A sample of recurring meetings open to the public:
• Alcoholics Anonymous.
• Tutoring classes for high school students in the East Bay.
• Indoor basketball for the West End Alameda urban neighborhood.
• Children’s music lessons.
• Boy Scout Troop 2 (Alameda's oldest continuously active Boy Scout troop).
First Pres' sister congregation the Alameda Korean Presbyterian Church (AKPC) has shared the church facilities for 20 years. AKPC conducts outreach to the Korean community throughout the Bay Area and holds various functions open to the public throughout the year including Korean language classes open to school-age children. This congregation is led by Pastor Myong Baea Choi.
The International Child Resource Institute (ICRI) uses a portion of the education building to provide low cost childcare to over fifty families from the Oakland and Alameda community that would have difficulty finding this service elsewhere.
Mark Cunningham, Project Manager
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| Posted: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 08:48 |
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First Presbyterian
Church of Alameda
2001 Santa Clara Ave.
Alameda, CA 94501
P: (510) 522 1477
F: (510) 522 2590
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