FLOWERY BRANCH — City Manager Bill Andrew told council members Thursday evening that the architectural and engineering teams creating a preliminary plan for a new city hall, city plaza and Pine Street extension no longer believe the initial building design under consideration can be constructed at or under budget.
“The layout we had discussed and kind of decided to move on before is no longer within the budget,” Andrew said.
“And they can’t really move forward on the core-sampling of the site until we make a decision about this layout of the building,” Andrew added.
The proposed budget for the entire project is $4.9 million, with roughly $3.9 million dedicated to the building.
Andrew then presented council members with a possible change in the footprint of the building suggested by the architect that would take better advantage of the existing terrain at the building site and reduce some of the construction costs while sacrificing none of the square-footage.
The suggested design change also provided a few things Andrew said would have a positive impact down the road.
“It would allow us to zone the heating and cooling and lighting of the building better,” Andrew said, suggesting a saving for the city in operational expense.
He added that the suggested design provided for future building expansion, something the initial design did not provide, and that the community room could be used separately from the rest of the building, solving a security challenge facing designers.
“The architect and the engineer are unanimous that they feel this is the design that we need to move towards. Frankly, I was a little shocked by it when I first saw it…it took me a good week or so to understand it, but the more I thought about it, (the more) I really kind of like this design,” Andrew said.
“I want to start the project under budget; I really do…so if things happen we can grow to that point,” Andrew explained.
The council agreed and the new design layout was approved.
CM Approved
City council voted unanimously to accept the bid of Hogan Construction Group to be “the third leg of the stool” – that according to City Manager Bill Andrew – serving as Construction Manager at Risk for the Pine Street extension, city hall and city plaza project.
The Norcross based group will join Alpharetta architectural firm Wakefield Beasley and Marietta engineering firm Southeastern Engineering, both already working on the project, as the third member of the team overseeing pre-construction work for the 17,000 square-feet, $4.9 million municipal complex.
