VJ Gautieri Constructors completes St. Padre Pio project: A 5,000 s/f chapel to honor Capuchin priest

Olindo and Filomena Difrancesco decided to build a chapel on 150 Frank DiMino Way in honor of St. Padre Pio of San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. The Capuchin Priest was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul. Padre Pio is a beloved saint of the Italian people. His burial place draws 8 million pilgrims yearly. Establishing the not-for-profit organization St. Padre Pio Institute of Rochester and receiving a donation of the land from the Italian American Community Center (IACC) made the project possible. The original bidding was held and VJ Gautieri Constructors of Batavia was the low bidder. The project, however, was $1 million over budget. VJ Gautieri Constructors was established in 1954 by Vito Gautieri, Sr. in an office above his parent's garage on the south side of Batavia. He started out doing remodeling jobs and residential additions and moved on to mainly commercial construction, real estate development and construction management. In the 50 years since establishing his business, the company has employed all of his six children, at one time or another. For this project, his sons, Victor, company president, and Vito Jr., VP of estimating and project superintendent, were active participants. Daughter Valerie currently handles marketing and property management to round out the family participation. The Gautieri family suggested that the owners consider value engineering. This was the only way that the project could be completed. In a detailed and systematic way, the project was overhauled from top to bottom. Value engineering, by definition, creates the best value to give owners the most for their money. This particular project involved such major changes that Vito Gautieri termed it more "forensic engineering." Every aspect of the construction, from the type of building through the décor, was evaluated and streamlined. After much input from his sons, the project was presented to the owners close to their original budget. The major change was the super structure, which was originally masonry and steel. This changed to a wood frame structure while still maintaining the architectural exterior of the building. There were minor changes to the footprint of the original structure while still maintaining the integrity of chapel design. The project architect, Al Hazelwood of Passero Associates, was an integral part of this process. Each change required architectural and engineering adjustments as well. The architect was very cooperative throughout the process. Gautieri stated that it was vital to have their input as the project ended up almost a design/build in the end. To accommodate various engineering changes, the projected completion date of December of 2007 was adjusted into 2008 and into winter weather. Construction on the 5,000 s/f chapel continued under adverse conditions with temporary protection and temporary heat also necessary. Most of the interior finishes took place with propane heaters until the permanent heating was completed. The end result of this hard work was celebrated at a grand opening that hosted over 1,000 people. Bus loads of Catholics and Italians from as far as Toronto, Ontario Canada came to pray in the chapel on May 25th.