City celebrating Civic Center façade project completion
The city is hosting a ribbon cutting for the Civic Center façade project at 11 a.m. April 19.
The date coincides with the 84th anniversary or original building dedication, according to the city.
The $5.7 million façade renovation project was completed in January 2024.
In April 2021, City Commissioners approved a $5.41 contract to Talisman Construction Services for the project and in October 2021, commissioners approved a $300,000 change order, bringing the total contract to $5.71 million.
Civic Center façade project now complete
In December 2023, commissioners approved an $88,148.16 change order.
In February, commissioners approved final payment of $287,091.58 to Talisman Construction Services and $2,899.92 to the State Miscellaneous Tax Fund.
The final project cost is $5,799,830.16, according to the city.
The Civic Center façade project was initially set to be completed in February 2023, but officials decided to stop work through the winter, pushing completion to this summer.
The scaffolding was removed from the front of the building in May 2023 when work shifted to the northside of the building.
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The project was funded through the Downtown Tax Increment Finance District, which was established to encourage and support public safety, blight elimination and increased code compliance in the downtown urban renewal area.
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Commissioners granted budget authority of $6 million in downtown tax increment bonds, paying about $400,000 in annual debt service through the downtown TIF.
Civic Center façade project progressing
The project completes a 2011 recommendation from a full exterior façade analysis performed by Hessler Architects.
At the time, construction costs were estimated to be about $3.5 million, including architectural and engineering fees.
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.
In 2016, the city conducted an engineering study on the façade that included removing a panel and that made contractors aware of some of the underlying conditions of the building.
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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.
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 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.
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