We touched on the move to replace our City Hall four months ago here and since then more details have been released on the state of the building. Here are some of the key points from a presentation to the city council on Sept. 3rd.:
- City Hall was built to the seismic standards of the time (1969) – Estimate is $10M
- Mechanicals are beyond their useful life and parts availability is challenging (related asbestos issues estimated at $600K)
- ADA accessibility is an issue
- No fire sprinklers and inadequate fire alarm system
- Lighting and electrical upgrades to current standards – estimated at $1.5M
- The original roof is still on and being patched – replacement estimate $500K plus asbestos work
All of that is compounded by an estimated 20% growth in the space needed plus some better meeting room space although this could be handled by a satellite, leased office. The five-year total is $16M and grows to $35M over the next decade. The idea square footage would be between 6,000 and 14,000 ft2 larger than the current space.
Should the city choose to do the repairs and upgrades, it estimates about three years of temporary employee relocation. That sounds like an optimistic guess to me looking at how long everything takes. The real challenge is how to pay for either approach (fix vs. lease vs. build). The current central location is excellent which is an intangible that is hard to value–and harder to replace. There's no easy answer here even if one has a fix-it mindset.
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