New Lexington city hall back on the table? New study to cost $250,000
Lexington is poised to spend $250,000 for a study to determine needs for a possible new government center.
On Tuesday, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council gave initial approval for a contract with Ernst & Young for a programming and space needs analysis.
The council is expected to give final approval for the new contract in coming weeks.
The Ernst & Young contract is just the latest in a series of studies the city has paid for over the past seven years connected to finding a new city government center.
If the Ernst & Young contract is approved, the city will have spent $474,500 on studies for a new city government center since 2016.
Yet, it has remained at its Main Street location.
The city has been exploring how to consolidate its operations and find a new city hall on and off for decades. The city’s government center is currently in the old Lafayette Hotel. Maintenance costs for the building, completed in 1918, continue to climb. The cramped former hotel also can’t hold all of the city’s employees. City employees are in four different downtown buildings, including the government center in the former hotel building.
One study showed that deferred maintenance on all the city’s downtown buildings will top $22 million in coming years.
For example, the city spent millions in 2019 on exterior work on the former Lafayette Hotel due to safety concerns.
Brandi Peacher, director of project management for the city, told the council during Tuesday’s work session the Ernst & Young study will show the city how to organize certain departments and recommend how much space will be needed. The study will not identify new locations for a new government center, Peacher said.
Since the coronavirus pandemic “we have changed the way we work” Peacher said. The city may not need all the space it currently has. Moreover, technology is also changing the way city government operates now and in the future.
Peacher said the Ernst & Young study is different than previous studies which looked at whether a specific location will work for a new city government center. Rather, the proposed study will look at the city’s current operations and determine efficiencies.
“It will tell us not only what we need, but a budget number,” Peacher said. “Is this building an option for renovation? Do we need to look at other options?”
It’s not just cost driving the city’s need for a new city government center. The current city government center and adjoining buildings are not user friendly. It can be confusing for newcomers to navigate and is tricky for those with disabilities and mobility issues, city officials have long said.
More recent studies
In 2016, the city paid Jones Lang Lasalle, a real estate consulting group, a little less than $100,000 to do an analysis of whether putting a new city hall on the CentrePointe site, now called City Center, would work. That report also looked at other locations in downtown including on top of the Lextran Transit Center on Vine Street.
Those plans were eventually scuttled.
The city and the Lexington Public Library announced in August 2016 that the city was exploring buying the downtown library, which was built in 1989, for a new city government center.
The city paid $124,5000 for a CGL RicciGreene study to look at the feasibility and cost of expanding and renovating the downtown library. That study also looked at revamping the county clerk and police station on Main Street and putting a city hall on the Phoenix Park site.
At the time, the city scuttled those proposals.
Under former Mayor Jim Gray, the city came the closest to securing a new government center. Through a competitive bid process, the city selected CRM Development Company for a new city government center. CRM Development Company had proposed rebuilding and expanding the former Lexington Herald-Leader building on Midland Avenue for a new government center. Under the deal, the city would lease the building from CRM for $5.1 million a year over 35 years.
The council narrowly defeated the lease contract in September 2018. The former Herald-Leader building was ultimately sold to the Fayette County Public School system. The Herald-Leader has moved to an office on Loudon Avenue.
The city’s efforts to resume its search for a new city government center were largely put on hold over the past three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Peacher said after Ernst & Young releases its report in late May there will will be further discussions with the council about budget and costs.
“It costs a lot to stay in these older buildings,” Peacher said.
