New lodge for Elks may begin soon

Leaders of the Mountain Home Elk's Lodge believe construction to rebuild the lodge, which burned to the ground last September, could begin within one to two months.

Only final approval from the Grand Lodge remains for the plans of the new -- and expanded -- lodge facility, and once that is received the local lodge already has a contractor standing by to begin construction.

Typically, local Exalted Ruler Lynn Fincher said, it will take three to five weeks to receive approval from the Grand Lodge.

But other than that, lodge Treasurer Dave Pursell said, "all the hurdles have been jumped."

Prior to its destruction by fire last September, the lodge was a major community facility, hosting banquets for local organizations, and handling weddings, funeral receptions and other events, as well as regular lodge functions.

The old lodge could handle up to 325 persons at a time for any given event.

The new lodge, Pursell said, "will probably be in the vicinity of 450 (people), which would pretty much handle anything."

It hasn't been easy getting to this point. "At first, we thought we could begin construction almost right away and be open again this spring," Fincher said. "Then it was summer. Then fall." Now, the lodge leaders expect to have the facility completed by the end of the year, probably in early December, and will be able to begin full operation by Jan. 1, 2009. They're already booking events with that time frame in mind.

One hang-up over getting started on the rebuilding process involved the insurance company, which wanted to pay for a straight replacement of the old structure. "They wanted a complete accounting of everything. If there was a pen sitting on a desk, we had to report it, and list not only the replacement cost but the catalogue, page and item number," Fincher said. "We had a lot of lodge members volunteer to help with that.

"In retrospect, thinking we could get started right away (on rebuilding) was a little naive on my part," he said.

But lodge officials and members wanted to make some changes, which ironically, would cost slightly less than the $1.6 million originally estimated to replace the old lodge.

The new design would restore much of the original entrance, but by using brick to only surround the building to a height of about 5 feet and then using metal for the rest of the superstructure, the building could be significantly expanded -- from 9,000 square feet to 14,000 square feet -- and the overall cost reduced to about $1.4 million, not including furniture, fixtures and equipment, Fincher said.

"The old building had brick around a metal frame anyway, so there really isn't that much of a change," Fincher said. "But by not using all that brick, we could get a much better facility."

The plans currently awaiting Grand Lodge approval would include offices, a members bar area, an "open bar" area and dining facility, and two large conference rooms. With a centrally located (and expanded) kitchen area, that would allow three events to be held at the same time and food servers would not have to cross from one event area to get to another one.

The conference rooms and dining area would be separated by movable partitions, allowing the lodge to open those areas up to handle larger events. When all the areas are opened, banquets seating up to 450 people could be held in one large room.

In addition, the number of available restrooms would be expanded from one set of male and female restrooms to three.

In addition to its regular activities, the lodge will see a return of weekly bingo to the facility.

Pursell noted that the lodge will not be borrowing any money for the reconstruction project, but to fully furnish and outfit it will require contributions and fundraisers. "We may be in lawn chairs at first," Fincher joked, then added more seriously, "we're planning on a lot of fundraisers."

And Pursell said all of the 350 members of the lodge wanted to express their thanks to all the citizens in the community who have donated to the "burnout fund" so far. "We'll have more fundraisers" this spring, summer and fall, Pursell said, "because everybody knows insurance just doesn't cover everything, but we refuse to go into debt."

When the lodge is ready to open again at the end of the year, Fincher expects "something grand" in the way of opening ceremonies, with representatives of Elk's lodges from all over region attending. In addition, the lodge will hold a special open house for the public to get a chance to view the new facility.

"We can't wait," he said. "It will be like a rebirth."