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November 19, 1999/10 Kislev 5760, Vol. 52, No.12
More expensive recipe required for kosher kitchen
CHRIS GARIFO
Staff Writer
The renovation of the kosher kitchen at the Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University is going to cost nearly $30,000 more than the original $67,000 that had been budgeted, said the center's executive director, Rabbi Barton Lee.
"It's been very frustrating because it's delayed the completion of the project substantially," Lee said. "We've been using a camp stove and serving cold food, so we've still pretty much been able to feed the students, but we want to get into our kosher kitchen."
The renovation work was started in late July, and Lee said he had hoped to have the kitchen ready in time for the High Holidays last September. The extra costs and delays are a result of electrical and plumbing changes needed to accommodate commercial-quality equipment, plus city of Tempe building code requirements, which have combined to force Hillel to make improvements to its 18-year-old facility.
Lee said the required changes will cost an extra $26,000-$27,000, which means Hillel will either have to raise more money from donors or dip into its renewal fund, which normally would be used for other projects, such as a new roof.
"We feel embarrassed and awkward because we've had to go back to the donors and say we've increased our costs," Lee said. "Nobody seems to be angry, but ... it's been very frustrating."
General contractor Don Rissling, president and owner of Peake Inc., the company doing much of the construction work on the kitchen, said what has happened with the Hillel project is "pretty typical."
Rissling said conditions in the building were different from what was marked in renovation drawings, "so when we opened up the walls, for example, a lot of the stuff was not indicated." Rissling said the renovation plans were drawn up without looking inside the walls. The architect and Lee "made drawings using assumptions," Rissling said.
Project architect Mark Candelaria of Candelaria Design Associates said that most of the designs drawn prior to the building's original construction were unavailable when he began designing the new kitchen, and were still unavailable when his renovation plans were submitted to the city to get a permit. Lee said that the original building plans that Candelaria did have turned out to be inaccurate. After the renovation work was started, the crew discovered that what had actually been installed was different than what was designated in the plans.
Candelaria said he had intended to try using as much of the existing plumbing and electrical system as possible for the renovation.
"The intent was to keep the project as simple as possible, but it didn't work out that way," said Candelaria, who donated his time to the project - about 100 hours, for which he would normally charge about $125 an hour.
He said the existing older plumbing and wiring just wouldn't work with the new, upgraded equipment being brought in.
"It'll be much more like a commercial kitchen and less like a home kitchen," Lee explained. "When we first opened here, it was more like a family kitchen."
Mark Vanek, who has been Hillel's cook for about 16 years, said he was the person who urged going to a more commercial facility because of the added convenience it would offer, and because of the numbers of people he often cooks for, at times 150 students or more. He also said he hopes to use the kitchen to help with Hillel fund-raising efforts.
"I love to bake cakes and sell them as a fund-raiser for Hillel, to get them out into the kosher market," Vanek said. "I make an incredible rum cake, and there's also carrot cake and cheese cakes; I want to start doing that."
Vanek said what's frustrating for him about the renovation delays has been "not being able to cook the things I want to cook."
Vanek said he can't bake or prepare meatloaf or brisket because he doesn't have an oven. He now can only barbecue, fix sandwiches or cook soup, as he did for the weekly Tuesday lunch for students. The minestrone was cooked in Hillel's upstairs dining room on a camp stove.
"(The soup) was a rare thing," Vanek said.
The upgrades include an industrial-grade refrigerator and freezer, stainless-steel counters, a commercial gas range and an icemaker. To save money, the kitchen won't have dishwashers, which would have added $2,000-$3,000 to the plumbing costs on top of the cost of the dishwashers themselves, Lee said.
"It's all new things and represents a major upgrade in terms of quality and in terms of health potential for the kitchen," Lee said.
Because of the new range, however, a new hood and exhaust equipment were necessary. The exhaust equipment had to be placed on the roof and so, to meet Tempe code requirements, a screen had to be built to keep the equipment out of view from the street. Rissling says the commercial-quality equipment also required more electrical power.
"The building had 200 amps feeding it, and we had to go up to 400 amps," Rissling said. "That was about an $11,000 increase, and the screen on the roof was $4,000."
Mike Williams, deputy development-services director for the city of Tempe, said the problems Hillel experienced are "the nature of retrofit or alterations."
Williams said it's not at all unusual for the city to issue a permit based on the plans submitted and then, during an inspection, determine that the plans submitted were inaccurate and that more would be required to bring the facility up to code.
"It's not unusual to go into an older building and find there were errors or there were things that were missed in (the planning) process," Williams said.
In Hillel's case, because the kitchen was upgraded to incorporate commercial-quality equipment, the codes in effect at the time the building was constructed, while applicable then, were superceded by the latest codes applicable to the renovation project. "Commercial facilities offer a greater hazard because of the nature of the cooking," Williams said.
He said the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the plans meet code requirements lies with the building owner, the architect and the contractors. Williams explained that the owners of facilities actually have control over which code requirements will come into play - when they decide what sort of facility and equipment they want.
Lee said he hopes the kitchen will be finished in time for Hanukkah (Dec. 3-11). He said a Shabbat Hanukkah dinner is planned for Friday, Dec. 3, the first night of Hanukkah, and a formal kitchen dedication is set for Sunday, Dec. 12.
"We've declared a ninth day of Hanukkah," Lee said.
Lee said he and Vanek take care of the kitchen's kosher certification.
"If we have questions, we call (Greater Phoenix) Vaad Hakashruth or (its rabbinic administrator) Rabbi (David) Rebibo," Lee says. "There are all kinds of notions of how kosher should be run. One is to have the local institution do it, and (so) we supervise our own kashrut (adherence to kosher laws)."
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