[Press Release] : City Hall exterior renovation will start next week

[Press Releases]

You have received this message because you subscribe to the City of
Columbia’s Web Mail service. To view linked material click on provided
links or copy and paste them into your browser's address menu.
______________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Tony St. Romaine, Assistant City Manager - (573) 874-7221 

City Hall exterior renovation will start next week

COLUMBIA, MO (June 14, 2007) - City officials ask the public to take
precautions when using the north entrance to the Daniel Boone Building,
starting Monday morning, June 18. That’s when Jefferson City-based GBH
Builders will begin preparing the area for a new drive-through access
for people paying city utility bills.

According to Assistant City Manager Tony St. Romaine, all public
building entrances at City Hall, including the one that is accessible to
disabled persons, will remain open. It’s important, however, for the
public to be aware of heavy equipment, heed construction barriers and
workers directing traffic and to stay on designated passage ways.

“Above all,” St. Romaine said, “we want everyone to pass safely
through the construction area and conduct their business. This applies
to the public and to city employees, and it will affect both walk-in and
vehicle traffic.”

St. Romaine said that this exterior work is another step in the process
to house a significant number of city employees in downtown Columbia.

“The end product will be a new City Hall wing attached to the
historic, totally renovated Daniel Boone Building,” St. Romaine said.
“Each milestone brings us closer to that goal.”

This exterior work should last about six weeks and will include:
● Excavation immediately north of the Daniel Boone Building,
affecting parts of the driving lanes and parking lot;
● Site preparation for new construction;
● Building a traffic island, canopy and teller windows for utility
payments;
● Installing remote teller equipment;
● Reconfiguring metered parking spaces and repaving the area.

“We acknowledge that there will be some temporary inconvenience for
the public,” St. Romaine said. “Metered parking on the building’s
north side will be available on a day-to-day basis, depending on the
time of day and the builder’s scope of work. People will not be able
to drive between the existing sidewalk and the existing island.”

St. Romaine said that City utility customers can continue using the
existing drive-through behind the “annex” building at 8th and
Broadway until the new access opens in September.

GBH already is remodeling the Daniel Boone Building lobby. 

“We expect the builder to minimize disruptions, both inside and out,
and they’re doing a good job,” St. Romaine said. 

The lobby renovations started in April and will create a permanent
location for the city’s Utility Customer Service staff and for its
Treasury Division, now both housed in the annex building. St. Romaine
said the annex will be vacated and razed, laying the groundwork for
building the new City Hall wing.

St. Romaine coordinates the total downtown office complex project for
the city of Columbia. 

“The whole point is to control our long-term operating costs by
centrally housing employees in buildings the public owns rather than
scattering our workforce in rental space that’s subject to annual
inflation,” St. Romaine said.

Scattered sights also tend to create operating inefficiencies and
confuse citizens trying to locate the services they need, according to
St. Romaine.

“We started by renovating two historic city facilities in the
downtown municipal government complex at Seventh and Broadway,” St.
Romaine said. “The Howard Municipal Building and the Gentry buildings
were completed last year.”

Those structures house several city offices, including those formerly
located in the Gates-Rader building, which was just east of City Hall on
Eighth Street. The Gates-Rader building was demolished in March.

“This sets the stage for site preparation and construction of the new
City Hall wing and total renovation of the Daniel Boone Building. It’s
a complex process, and I will be delighted when we can publicly dedicate
the project in 2010.”

- 30 -
______________________________________________________

Archived press releases can be viewed online at: 
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Public_Comm/Public_Information/Press_Releases/

______________________________________________________

If you would like to stop receiving messages, modify list options, or
subscribe to other lists visit the Web Mail section of our Web site and
follow the instructions provided. 

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Web_Mail/index.php 


** Virus scanned by City of Columbia MO Spam/Virus Firewall **