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New City Hall and Public Plaza

Summary

A new City Hall and adjoining public plaza will be constructed on the existing Municipal Annex site on the north shore of Town Lake, as part of a public-private partnership with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). The City facilities will be part of a complex of buildings that include offices for CSC's Financial Services Group, retail shops, restaurants and residential spaces. A new Council Chambers and other public meeting rooms will be included. City staff expects construction to be complete by the end of 2003.

Status

Carter-Burgess, Inc., was hired to develop a space program and plan for the new City Hall and Public Plaza. Stakeholder and community participation meetings were held in February. The program was completed in August 2000. In March, the City Council selected the Austin firm of Cotera, Kolar, Negrete and Reed Architects with Antoine Predock, FAIA of Albuquerque, New Mexico as the Lead Designer and Lars Stanley, AIA as Associate Architect and Sustainability Consultant.

Beginning in January, the City Council moved its regular meetings to an LCRA facility on Lake Austin Boulevard, and all City employees working in the Municipal Annex were relocated by the end of February. Demolition of the existing buildings was completed this fall, and construction of the underground parking garage is expected to begin in early 2001.

Issues

The development of a new City Hall and Public Plaza provides Austin with an opportunity to design and build a city hall that is "uniquely Austin". Community participation is vital to a successful programming and strategic planning process. With the new City Hall being part of a larger private development, it will be important for the design team to create a new City Hall which is distinct from the surrounding CSC developments. Further, due to the plaza’s location at Town Lake, consideration needs to be given to connecting the plaza with nearby pedestrian walkways and bikeways.

Description

The new City Hall will be approximately 115,000 gsf, and overlook both Town Lake and a revitalized, retail oriented Second Street. The Council has tentatively approved a restaurant and other retail support uses in 4,000 gsf of the new City Hall, pending a more detailed discussion of the retail project to be held in 2001. A Public Plaza will be constructed on the south side of the lot, facing Town Lake. Three levels of underground parking are included in the development, with one level dedicated to daytime CSC parking upon completion of the third of three office buildings, as well as parking for the retail space included in the project.

Personnel and functions that will relocate to the new City Hall include: the Mayor and Council Members, City Manager and his staff, City Clerk, City Auditor (currently in leased space in Two Commodore Plaza) Public Information Office, Budget Office, departmental administration for the Financial and Administrative Services Department, and the Law Department (by vacating leased space in Norwood Towers on 7th Street).

Basic Data

  • Project Contact: Ron Davis, 499-7001

    More Information

    New City Hall and Public Plaza website
     

    Revised December 14, 2000

      Back to the October 2000 Contents


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