In 2017, Hurricane Maria destroyed our shelter of 50 years at Estate Clifton Hill. Luckily, all our animals had been evacuated off-island the day before. Our original plan was to rebuild at Clifton Hill, but after going through the permitting process, we discovered the property had never been zoned correctly for an animal shelter. Stuck in a zoning quagmire, we decided to switch gears and purchase the Castle Coakley great-house property. We closed in March 2022!
Castle Coakley is zoned correctly and has been lovingly renovated over the past several years. The 5.5 acre property consists of a Great House, a smaller carriage house, two sugar mills, other historical ruins, as well as beautiful gardens and land. The Great House will be converted into our low-cost community clinic, surgery center, and offices. The carriage house will be our intake and adoptions center, and we will build a brand new kennel building!
Also in the plans are a community dog park, walking trails, a puppy play yard—the possibilities are limitless! We are also collaborating with CHANT to develop a historical walking tour through the property in order to make this important piece of Virgin Islands history accessible to the whole community.
A leaking roof, mold, AC issues as well as space limitations have made our current 5 Corners location inadequate for the needs of our shelter animals and staff. However, we cannot afford to put our very limited resources into a building we do not own: we need to move to Castle Coakley as soon as possible! Funding for some of our renovations and buildings will be covered by a FEMA rebuild grant, but we will urgently need to raise funds for many uncovered expenses. We have named this fundraising effort Mission Coakley: SOS (Save Our Shelter) and aim to raise $1 million over the next year!
**PROJECT STATUS** as of May 2023, we have selected and engaged the architect firm NOVUS/Springline who won our RFP bid! They are conducting site visits in May to begin the design process! Once they reach 30% drawings and have initial renderings for us, we will launch our capital campaign! Based on the timeline for required FEMA approval at every stage of the design process (30%, 60%, 90% and 100% drawings), we estimate that we will complete the A/E phase by February 2024, and break ground by Spring 2024! We hope to celebrate Christmas 2024 in our new facility!
Please donate to this effort and help us move!
Request for Proposals
The St. Croix Animal Welfare Center requests proposals for Architecture/Engineering Services for the Castle Coakley project.
SCAWC is seeking an Architect/Engineer to design the new home of SCAWC and the full scope of animal welfare services it provides to the community through the retrofit of existing structures and new construction. The facility will include designated and functionally designed spaces for the myriad of animal shelter and low-cost veterinary center operational needs including: animal intake, dog and puppy kennels and play spaces, cat and kitten areas, adoptions, shelter medicine, low-cost veterinary center services, humane education and outreach, administration and staff work, break, and meeting spaces, laundry, storage, and parking.
This disaster recovery project is funded in part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance Grant Program, under the guidelines and regulations of the Stafford Act.
RFP Package for Download:
APPENDICES
RFP 08-2022A Appendices, Addenda 1
RFP 08-2022 Appendices, Addenda 2
RFP 08-2022 Appendices, Addenda 3
ADDITIONAL RFP RELATED DOCUMENTS:
Pre-Proposal Conference Agenda
Pre-Proposal Conference and Facility Walk Through Minutes
Note that any RFP addenda as well as additional RFP related documents such as Submitted Questions & Answers, Pre-Proposal Conference Agenda, and Pre-Proposal Conference and Facility Walk Through Minutes, will be published on this site.
Potential bidders are advised to check this site regularly for any updates.
***RFP SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED***
Proposals will now be accepted until SUNDAY, November 27th at 5pm AST
Timetable – Key Dates:
RFP 08-2022A – Advertisement Begin Date: Monday, September 26, 2022
Pre-proposal Conference at 9:00 am AST: Thursday, October 6, 2022
Walk-through of Facilities (following Pre-Proposal Conference): Thursday, October 6, 2022
Last day for written clarification: Friday, November 18, 2022
Proposals will be accepted until 5:00 pm AST: Sunday, November 27, 2022
Submission Instructions:
All interested parties shall submit one (1) proposal in electronic format (pdf), which is acceptable and encouraged, or two (2) sets of hard-copy proposals are to be delivered to SCAWC during normal business hours. Proposals must be submitted no later than 5:00 pm AST on Sunday, November 27, 2022 to the following:
Emily Weston
Board President
Email: boardpresident@stcroixawc.org
or
SCAWC Shelter Rebuild Project (RFP 08-2022A)
St. Croix Animal Welfare Center
1C-1D Estate Princess
Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 00820
For more information on please contact Emily Weston at executivedirector@stcroixawc.org or call the Animal Welfare Center’s office at 340-778-1650.
RFP 08-2022A Appendices, Addenda 1