Architects offer options for renovating buildings

MOREHEAD CITY Preliminary proposals for consolidating the citys administrative functions now scattered around various locations and renovating city-owned properties could cost millions.

City officials arent likely to make any immediate decisions on the options presented Friday during a council work session held at the downtown Municipal Building to discuss concepts developed in a space-needs analysis, but discussions are likely to continue right away.

We will probably schedule a work session for the council just to talk about space needs sometime in the next couple weeks, City Manager Dave Whitlow said Tuesday.

Architects with MMM Design Group of Norfolk, Va., presented their findings during the work session, providing conceptual illustrations of possible renovations of and additions to the Municipal Building on South Eighth Street, the Webb Library on Evans Street and the Charles S. Wallace Building on Bridges Street. The study also looked at the city hall offices in the former U.S. Post Office and the adjacent rented office space on Arendell Street, the recreation center on Fisher Street, a storage building on Fifth Street and a downtown garage for city vehicles.

Proposed in the analysis were various options for renovating the Wallace Building, the Municipal Building and the library each including options for additions. The firm also proposed demolition of portions of the Wallace Building, including the auditorium deemed to be in poor condition, and the former fire department portion of the Municipal Building, also judged to be in bad shape.

The study recommendations were the result of city staff meeting with the architects for a couple months to discuss current and future needs, looking 10-20 years ahead, and visual inspections of the various buildings.

Architect Stelios Xystros of the MMM Design Group said there were numerous observed problems, including code deficiencies, accessibility issues and areas of space not well suited for the citys use and function.

He said the library building seems to be functioning very well. Its a nice library, he said, but accessibility problems were noted.

The Wallace building is too big for its current function, he said. The structure is home to the Coastal Academy for Technology and Science, formerly known as Cape Lookout High School, but the school occupies only part of the first floor.

The city is heating and cooling a building that is not suitable to its function, Mr. Xystros said.

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Architects offer options for renovating buildings