City hall tab nearly $10M
In Spa City, insurance will only go so far to cover major repairs.
Early estimates on renovations to City Hall after an August lightning strike and fire have come in at $9.98 million, only half of which insurance is expected to cover.
The renovation plan, which was reviewed in a City Council budget workshop Monday, will include a new HVAC system, asbestos abatement and second elevator that is ADA compliant. Plans also include an additional second floor courtroom that the state has mandated, but the city has failed to produce for nearly five years. It will also preserve the third floor Music Hall, which was under threat as the city was considering using that space for the second courtroom.
“This renovation aims to improve City Hall for citizens and employees, updates how we provide services and preserves the historic charm of our city hall,” Commissioner of Public Safety Anthony “Skip” Scirocco said at the workshop. “The plan’s goal is to provide a city hall that the city can be proud of.”
City Hall, a brick building erected in 1871, sustained widespread water damage on Aug. 17 when lightning caused a small fire on the third floor. Since the fire, City Hall has been functioning from the city’s Recreation Center on Vanderbilt Avenue, while city court moved into the Lincoln Baths on South Broadway.
Scirocco said the renovations, which the city hopes to com-
plete by fall 2019, could have easily cost $15 million to $20 million, but the city worked to bring the figure down to just below $10 million. Commissioner of Accounts John Franck said $4.5 million to $5 million will likely come from Traveler’s Insurance. The remainder of the cost, Franck said, will be bonded.
“Insurance only pays for replacement,” Franck said. “It does not pay for the upgrades like the elevator or the new courtroom.”
Franck said that insurance figures are not final. Neither is the $9.98
million cost estimate, which Scirocco called preliminary, but added “the plan provides what each department needs.”
Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan said that the courtroom alone will cost about $1.9 million, while the HVAC upgrades will cost $1.5 million. She said the upgrades to the heating and cooling system will likely lead to lower energy costs in the future and will allow the city to apply for rebates from National Grid.
Franck said insurance does pay for the asbestos abatement that is coming in at a cost of $250,000 to $300,000.
John Hall, a principal with Clark, Patterson and
Lee Architects, which is heading the project, said the plan is to start renovations in the spring with an optimistic goal of reopening in the fall.
“We were lobbying for fourth quarter next year,” Hall said. “It’s all interior work. We don’t have to wait for foundations or ground to be clear. Once they get in there, they can go to town.”
Hall and Michael Veitch, the business manager for the city’s Department of Public Works, provided an overview of changes to the new City Hall.
Among the items he noted are:
The Saratoga Springs police administration will move from the second floor to the ground floor next to the police station.
First f loor improvements include new lighting, flooring and a more secure entry way into the mayor’s office. The City Council room and the Accounts office will remain basically the same. DPW
will move to the first floor. The planned renovations for the Finance Department, initially estimated at $750,000 in 2016, will now move forward on that floor.
The second floor will be mainly devoted to the courts with two hearing rooms rather than one. Security will also be tightened for the courts.
The Music Hall on the third floor will be sound proofed so that court proceedings are not interrupted by the noise coming from the hall, which was previously the case. There will also be two new offices for the city’s Saratoga County Supervisors Tara Gaston and Matthew Veitch.
Michael Veitch said bids are expected to go out in March with work soon following.
Mayor Meg Kelly did not respond to Times Union’s requests for comment.