Downtown Office Space Consolidation
formerly "New City Hall"
CIP 840-607-3009
Summary This first phase of the New City Hall Project provided architectural and planning programmatic information to establish facility size and budget. Also included was project phasing and schedule, analysis of which Departments will be housed within the building, environmental site assessment and financial analysis. The downtown Business Group (comprised of members of the Downtown Austin Alliance, Real Estate Council of Austin, Austin Area Research Organization, and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce) and the City staff studied four options: lease space, purchase of a building, private build and City build. It was determined that the option of City build will not be considered at this time, due to high cost.
Status On February 29, 1996, the City Council approved Amendment #2 to
the professional services agreement with Keyser Marston Associates, Inc., which
will add a real estate consultant to their downtown redevelopment team. Building on the recommendations made by the Business Group, the real estate consultant will investigate current and actual opportunities in the following areas: - long-term lease consolidation for 325,000 NUSF (net usable
square feet), including contract with the buildings currently occupied by the
City, and including an option to purchase
- purchase of an existing building
or campus of buildings comprising 325,000 NUSF
- public/private partnership
for constructin of an new City Hall with 325,000 NUSF
In July the City
Manager and the consultant staff made a presentation to the City Council.
Currently the City staff is looking at options for long-term lease consolidation of Downtown office space.
Issues A Downtown Development report was given to a City Council Work
Session on January 5, 1994. The report gave an overview of the activity within
the City's downtown including proposals for a New City Hall, a Downtown Art Museum, and downtown malls. The
recommendation was made that the City should take pro-active role in the
development of downtown and that the City should maximize it's investment
potential. Toward this end, several analyses and studies should be conducted
which look at the impact of the separate issues on the overall downtown
development. One of the contributing elements to this overview which should be
investigated is the New City Hall Project.
Description Of the 325,000 NUSF the City of Austin currently occupys in the Downtown area the City currently leases over 225,000 NUSF, with an annual expenditure in excess of $2,700,000. By the end of 1998, many of the current leases will be re-negotiated. It is projected that the City will spend
approximately $3,400,000 for the same leased space.
Basic Data
Project Manager: Kalpana Sutaria, Department of Public
Works and Transportation, 499-7225
Amount Appropriated: $342,500
Completion Date (Phase I): February 1995
Revised August 28,
1996
Back to the September 1996
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