Work on the Civic Center is now complete and the City Commission will be asked during their Feb. 6 meeting to approve the final payment.
Staff is recommending approval of the final payment of $287,091.58 to Talisman Construction Services and $2,899.92 to the State Miscellaneous Tax Fund.
Commissioners awarded a $5.4 million contract to Talisman Construction in early 2021 for the project, which is nearing completion.
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Brock Cherry, city planning director, said in December that they’d started going through the punch list with the contractor and anticipated final completion of the project in early 2024.
Staff has since verified project completion.
The project completes a 2011recommendation from a full exterior façade analysis performed by Hessler Architects.
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The project was completed in four phases: east entry temporary stair protection and exterior envelope scaffold setup; exterior brick repair, façade cast stone replacement, trim cast stone repair, wall reinforcement and mortar repointing; east entry stair replacement and column washing; and complete roof replacement.
City officials have discussed the need to repair the Civic Center façade since at least 2011 and in June 2020, City Manager Greg Doyon restricted access to the front of the Civic Center due to public safety concerns.
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A piece of the back panel became dislodged, triggering the evaluation of other areas around the Civic Center, including “substantial cracking and buckling of the front panels,” according to the city.
As a precaution, the city installed barricades to protect the public from falling debris.
The 2011 analysis of the Civic Center façade was completed due to noticeable cracking and buckling of façade panels and brick mortar cracking.
Civic Center project nearing completion
The Hessler report detailed the likely cause of the failures and provided several recommendations for interim measures plus full renovation strategies including destructive examinations, according to city staff.
At the time, construction costs were estimated to be about $3.5 million, including architectural and engineering fees.
In 2016, CTA Architects was hired to review the 2011 report and perform an additional analysis checking for progression of deterioration and cracking of the structural panels.
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CTA’s findings were consistent with the Hessler report and also provided recommendations of structural panel replacement, according to staff.
CTA further determined that caulking and filling of gaps would only temporarily alleviate water intrusion and destruction since the source of the structural failures was existing chloride ratios in the original concrete mixture eroding into the panel rebar of the building, according to the staff report.
In 2017, the city hired CTA Architects to complete full architectural and engineering bid and construction drawings.
Civic Center façade project progressing
The company planned for the renovation of the failed façade surfaces, plus the replacement of the Civic Center roofing materials and roofing/building termination details, according to staff.
City and CTA staff briefed commissioners in 2017 on renovation plan progress and funding strategies.
In June 2020, commissioners directed city staff to pursue a funding strategy using Downtown Urban Renewal tax increment financing funds for a bond sale and to cover the annual bond payment.
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Commissioners approved an amendment to the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan for the project in October 2020 and approved the use of TIF funds in December 2020.
The final project cost is $5,799,830.16, which is $388,148.16 more than the contracted amount.
The increase was due to two change orders submitted during the project, the first for $300,000.00 and the second for $88,148.16.
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The Civic Center building was built in the 1930s, under the Works Progress Administration. The Works Progress Administration was renamed in 1939 to the Work Projects Administration, according to the city’s history of the building. The program was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential order and funded by Congress with passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act on April 8, 1935.
