Completion expected in fall of 2022
Preliminary drawings and renderings of what the planned new City Hall/police headquarters for Platte City off of Marshall Road are now available.
Engineering design will take at least to the end of the summer and the current plan is for staff to present detailed plans and specifications to the board of aldermen in October. If approved, bids will be due in November with the intent to award the construction contract before Christmas.
City officials currently anticipate completion of construction in October or November of 2022.
That’s the timeframe outlined by DJ Gehrt, city administrator, in a conversation with The Landmark this week.
“The benefit of awarding the bid late this year is that it will allow the contractor to begin ordering materials with a long lead time before the start of the normal spring construction season,” Gehrt said.
“As with all project schedules, I have learned to be very flexible but we will make every effort to stay on this timeline,” the city administrator added.
CHANGES MADE IN DESIGN
There have been some changes in the original design of the complex, Gehrt explained. The major change is that now the council chambers (aldermen meeting room) are scheduled to be in the new construction and not within the existing building at the front of the property, which is being renovated by the city.
The original concept was for a 13,500 sq. ft. new construction housing the police department and the city administrative functions, paired with renovation of the remaining building at 228 Marshall to hold a 1,400 square foot council chambers (65 person capacity) plus public restrooms and small conference room.
“However, when we conducted a more detailed engineering and architectural review of 228 Marshall, the estimated renovation costs per square foot were approximately 75% of the cost of new construction. Although the existing building is structurally sound and each floor provides enough potential space for the council chamber, the load bearing components break the floors up into a number of spaces that are individually too small for intended use,” Gehrt said.
“The changes to the load bearing components of the building to create a space that is even the same size as the current council chambers (capacity of 35) drove the higher renovation costs. The project would have required constructing a series of temporary load bearing walls inside the existing building; removing the current load bearing components, constructing new permanent load bearing walls with changes to roof and floor structures and then removing the temporary load bearing walls,” Gehrt explained.
Gehrt said in looking at an anticipated 40-50 year life span for the complex it did not make sense to renovate a mid 1980s building at a cost that was only 25% less than new construction.
“Because the estimated costs between the renovation and the new construction are relatively close, the renovation would end up costing more over the life of the complex because it would need either another renovation or replacement long before the part of the complex that will be new construction this year,” he added.
The cost of the renovation resulted in the need to change the original construction concept. The police department/city administrative offices will be housed in approximately 13,500 sq. ft. on two floors, approximately 6,700 sq. ft. on the main floor and 6,700 square feet in a below grade/walkout basement floor.
Gehrt said the city council chambers will be an approximately 2,200 square foot slab on grade building that will be connected to the main police department/city administrative biulding.
The council chamber component includes the 1,400 square foot council meeting room, a small conference/closed session room (this allows eliminating one conference room from the police department/city administration building); two public restrooms that will be shared with the police department/city administration lobby and a hallway connecting with the administration building.
WHERE THE PROJECT STANDS NOW
The current stage is the end of the conceptual design phase. The final size/layout will be very close to the conceptual design but it would be unusual if there are not some changes, including small changes to square footage or room capacity slightly up or down, during final design, Gehrt said.
“One of the major issues we are dealing with is the significant increase in building material costs and long lead times for some building materials such as windows, etc. since the project was originally approved in 2018. Hopefully, material costs will begin to go down and supply chain problems will be fixed before the project goes to bid this fall,” Gehrt remarked.
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