Humor us while we engage in a little intellectual curiosity.
While enjoying lunch in town yesterday, we ran across a story on the PPH business page, which at this point, is the hind quarters of the sports section.
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/11/09/boutique-hotel-with-148-rooms-planned-for-thompsons-point/
It’s obvious to most, we would think, that “Boutique-style” is the polar opposite of “Budget-style,” and suggests the hotel will feature high-end accomodations, appointments, amenities, and prices to match.
The hotel will have 148 rooms; a full service restaurant and bar; valet parking; a pool; and whatever else tourists looking for a “boutique” experience expect. We imagine high end designer shampoos, soaps, conditioners, and lotions in every room, ready to stock your guest room at home.
148 rooms. We’re not an architect, but we believe this means the hotel will include something like 160 well appointed bathrooms, of which 148 will include a full tub and shower. And something like 160 individually controllable HVAC systems.
Five stories, with multiple elevators and stair wells, a complex sprinkler and fire alarm system, phone, internet, and television service to all 148 rooms, and enough furniture, mattresses, and towels and linens to blow your mind. Add to that an industrial grade kitchen; an industrial grade laundry; and all the housekeeping and house engineering systems needed to keep such a place humming along, and you’ve got quite a massive construction effort and operating enterprise.
Not to mention the need for extremely durable construction and appointments. Hotels take a beating every day of the year in every regard. If you’ve ever worked at one, like we have, you know that without constant attention to maintenance, they go downhill faster than you could ever imagine, and a death spiral can be just months away.
Here’s what we found interesting in this article. The estimated cost for this project is $18 million.
Here in Brunswick, two story elementary school buildings seem to cost in the range of $25 million or so. Think about that; and while you’re doing so, read the specs and details we’ve described above.
Far as we’re concerned, we think this project is of substantially greater magnitude and complexity than HBS school, or the new one we’re about to undertake to replace one we got tired of; too tired to keep in servicable shape.
No doubt Brunswick’s favorite School Salesman, Lyndon Keck of PDT Architects, could explain in 30 minutes why the comparison is not in the least valid. Those 160 bathrooms and 160 separate HVAC systems mean nothing, because when it comes to our schools, we’re talking about “our children,” and you simply can’t count the cost when it comes to providing classrooms for “our future.”
The real issue, from our point of view, is why won’t someone ask the question? Say someone on the school board, which in theory is the elected oversight body for our hired govermment employees who operate the schools.
We think we know the answer, and it harkens back to our recent post on the Freedom of Asking Act, including the graphics we used to express non-verbal sentiments.
Not to mention one of our long-lost reporting staff.
You know, a sadly funny thought just occurred to us, and maybe to you as well. Could it be that we’re building “Boutique-style schools?”
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