Officials will update the City Council today on blueprints for
the Hollister Civic Center, the most expensive building
construction plan financed by the city.
The design for the project, estimated to cost $13 million to $15
million, is 65 percent complete, according to City Engineer Luis
Aguilar, who will present an oral report during the meeting.
Aguilar said officials hope to solicit bids for a general
contractor by the end of 2003 and that the city has made
”
good progress.
”
Officials will update the City Council today on blueprints for the Hollister Civic Center, the most expensive building construction plan financed by the city.
The design for the project, estimated to cost $13 million to $15 million, is 65 percent complete, according to City Engineer Luis Aguilar, who will present an oral report during the meeting.
Aguilar said officials hope to solicit bids for a general contractor by the end of 2003 and that the city has made “good progress.”
Three different consultants have been involved in the planning process so far at a cost to the city of $129,000.
“If everything goes well, we’ll do that (construction) maybe at the start of next year,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said the project is broken into three phases – conceptual design, design and construction. The conceptual design phase was considered finished when the City Council approved the civic center renovation idea in May 2002.
The progress on the project comes on the heels of the forthcoming completion of the $4.4 million Veterans Memorial Building renovation, which is scheduled for completion May 22.
The city will fund the conversion of the old Fremont School at 335 West St., with that part of the project costing an estimated $2.5 million, according to a staff report. Also, plans call for a new $5.7 million, three-story building adjacent to the building.
Other aspects of the project include parking accommodations, addition of a quadrangle courtyard between the two buildings, architectural services and material abatement.
The site will centrally house the operations of 10 city departments, such as engineering, planning, the Redevelopment Agency and the parks and recreation division.
“The main objective is (betterment of) public services,” Aguilar said. “Each department’s (facility) has really disintegrated.”
Representatives from every city department have been interviewed for additional input, Aguilar said, to “make sure they (get what they) want in each department.”
Once the city hires a general contractor, the firm will hire subcontractors for specialty aspects of the construction, Aguilar said.
A traffic study for parking changes and demolition plans for removal of hazardous material are both in progress.
