Welcome to September – which still feels very like August!This is the penultimate column devoted to providing more detail about the projects being contemplated by your Committee of Management to improve the function and appearance of various areas of the Club. This week: the renovation of the building to the north of Mangroville.
I’m not exactly sure what uses this building has had over the years, but recently it was a small apartment for Jamie, one of our former kitchen staff, on the lower level, and home to Nico and Maria, the sailing team, upstairs. There was also some rather dingy storage space downstairs.
Last year, we renovated the old ships store and gym behind the Clubhouse to the east and turned that into a new apartment for Nico and Maria – much welcome additional space for the arrival of young Tomas – and moved the gym over to their old apartment. The plan being considered by the CoM is to completely renovate that northern building, perhaps even adding an additional storey, to make 2-3 apartments that could be used as short-term rentals, either as income-producing AirB&B properties, or as crew accommodation for visiting fishing boats (these ideas, naturally, pre-dated COVID), and also create a spacious new gym on the lower level.
This is, understandably, the most expensive & extensive project that was presented to the attendees at the SGM last month. Given the current situation with the pandemic it is particularly difficult to produce budgets for revenue expectations, but we have a rough idea of what the construction costs would be, both with and without adding a 3rd storey. It is expensive as we would be adding kitchens and bathrooms and these are costly, as we all know. My own view is that we should shelve this project until we know how quickly our tourism industry is likely to bounce back; on the other hand, there is no doubt that there is member support for a new gym which does offer members an additional amenity and could also be a significant draw in terms of attracting new members: cut out the gym membership and put it towards the RHADC subscription.
At the SGM, a curve ball was pitched (I dislike using American sporting metaphors in everyday speech, but somehow this has slipped in!) when one member offered to pay for the entire renovation if they could have a 10-year tenancy on the new upper level apartment! Now, that sure does take the pressure off the CoM in terms of finding funding….
New week: green energy for RHADC with the addition of solar panels to our roof.
Elspeth Weisberg
Commodore
9 September, 2020