Government center commission moves closer to council recommendation – Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

The Mayors Commission on New Government and Judicial Building is getting closer to making a recommendation to Columbus Council on what to do with the 46-year-old structure.

On Wednesday, architects presented members with three conceptual site studies to consider. Later, the group began making plans for a series of forums to seek public input.

Before they put the pictures up, I just want to say, concepts are concepts, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson told the group, as architects prepared to share their PowerPoint slides. They dont necessarily go exactly on the property where theyre located. They dont necessarily look like that. Remember this is not the design committee. Our objective is to get some conceptual proposals to submit to council so that they can consider. And there would be another design committee, or however they want to structure it, in the future.

Tomlinson said the commission plans to have four simultaneous public forums in about 10 to 14 days, which would give the city time to advertise the meetings. At the same time, the commission will be working on a rough draft of the report that will be submitted to council.

And then were off to the races, she said. ... I dont want to make any promises, but I see this getting to council in the Octoberish timeframe.

The conceptual site studies were presented by Tim Jensen, a partner with Hecht Burdeshaw Architects, and Michael Starr, a partner with 2WR. They presented three scenarios for the building:

Scenario 1 - Renovation of the existing tower and wings

Scenario 2 - Renovation of the tower only

Scenario 3 - Total new construction

Starting with Scenario 1, Jensen said renovations to the facility would involve totally gutting the building.

If you imagine the existing structure is there, everything is gone, he explained. So, literally, at the end of the day when the demolition is finished, the sun will shine through, the wind blows through. All you have is structure. Theres no HVAC. Theres no electrical. ... Theres no skin. You would have the ribs that run throughout the building.

... Now, that doesnt quite get us enough space, he said. And so, what we would then do is have an addition that surrounds the tower to make up that space.

Scenario 2 would require significant modification to include a multi-story base added to the existing tower, which would be used for judicial purposes only. The plaza would be removed and a two-level parking deck constructed. Another structure would be built on the site for city administrative offices.

Scenario 3 would involve total new construction. The existing building would be demolished and replaced by two structures a justice center and separate city administrative building. Underground parking would take up the entire southern half of the block.

Starr said Scenario 2 and 3 are common in that they include useable, public green space.

It would rely upon spaces on the north and south side to say, Hey, citizens of Columbus, this is your space, and these are your buildings, he said.

The plans also call for secure entrances for employees and judges, a situation that doesnt exist in the current building, causing safety concerns.

The architects said the cost to renovate the tower and two wings (Scenario 1) would cost about $100,430,602, when demolition, construction and start-date of the project are taken into account. The cost for renovating the tower for judicial purposes and building a new city office building (Scenario 2) would cost $105,417,822. The cost for constructing two new buildings (Scenario 3) would cost $115,506,520.

All three estimates include an increase for time through 2023. They dont include expenses for development of the interior.

The concepts were developed based on 75,000-square-feet for city administrative offices and dont include space for city employees currently located at the annex, the architects said. But they agreed, at the request of commission members, to modify the site plan to include people from the annex, which would require another 27,000-square feet The proposals also include undeveloped space for future growth.

It could be that we could sell the annex building and get some cash for all of this, Tomlinson said.

Kristen Miller Zohn, a local art historian and commission member, asked if the facade and design of the building would be affected in Scenario 1.

Yes and no, said Jensen. Its a new facade. But the intention is we could go back to something thats very similar in nature. ... Today, you have these two columns and what appears to be glass between them, right? So, everything will go away, except for the columns that you see. We would intend to put glass back in between there again, and there would be some other embellishments to the degree that we needed them for functionality.

Zohn then said: So, in none of these scenarios does the original aesthetics of that style of building from 1971 remain intact.

The architects said the amount of space available at the site, code restrictions and the security required for handling prisoners would prohibit the building remaining exactly the same as it is today.

Stay 100 percent completely intact? No. Thats true, Jensen said.

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Government center commission moves closer to council recommendation - Columbus Ledger-Enquirer