Henderson City Hall cost nears $55 mil.

Greg Harman

Friday, June 23, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

The pricetag on a pending expansion of the Henderson City Hall -- replete with private balconies for council members, underground parking and a skywalk connecting to the city's emergency services facility -- was hiked $12.5 million this week.

What began as a $12.5 million project three years ago is now expected to cost taxpayers as much as $55 million.

"Growth has exceeded our imagination and our estimates by 100 percent," said John Simmons, the city's construction manager. "The plan was to reach out to 2010. Today, I can tell you, nobody can project what we're going to be 10 years from now."

After a stretch of meetings between developers and city staff Simmons realized his team had "somewhat failed miserably" in estimating the need for new space.

The $12.5 million pricetag for a 60,000-square-feet addition inflated to $42 million for 180,000 square feet after more than a year of meetings concluded in June 1999.

"We realized, 'Well, wait a minute. We can't meet the parking demands. Twelve and a half million isn't going to cut it,' " Simmons said. "Everyone needed additional office space. We just didn't realize the (demand) from where we stood when we got into it."

While the addition is intended to create more room for city employees, it is also intended to "set a standard" for downtown redevelopment efforts, Simmons said.

"It's not going to be pretentious," said Assistant City Manager Terry Zerkle, who facilitated meetings with developers and city staff to determine need. "It'll make a nice statement."

A four-story parking garage, complete with a subterranean parking level that links with existing underground parking facilities at the Henderson Police Department, has since been designed. The garage, the project's first phase, is expected to go out for bid next month and be completed in about eight months.

The City Hall addition, which will include private northerly facing balconies on the fourth floor for the mayor and council members to enjoy an elevated view of the Las Vegas Valley, will go out for bid by January 2001. It is expected to take 15 months to construct, with another seven months to match paint and materials in the existing city offices.

Now Simmons says 45,000 more square feet are needed, bucking the expansion cost up to $55 million. The council approved the budget increase without comment Tuesday night.

Zerkle said the city is paying special attention to energy efficiency matters to cut down on the complex's annual utility bills.

The city is a partner in the U.S. Department of Energy's Rebuild America program that provides free energy consulting to municipalities. The agency has agreed to review design plans for the addition to help heighten energy efficiency.

Simmons credits the ballooning office needs on the exponential growth of the city and the increasing number of community programs it offers.

City staff has almost doubled since the addition was discussed in 1997.

Full- and part-time employees numbered 1,128 three years ago. That number is expected to hit 2,064 this year.

And the City Hall itself is being designed to provide space for 740 employees even though one 10-year projection estimates only 623 employees would need to be based there in 2010. Currently, only 453 city employees are headquartered at City Hall.

"If we would not hit 740 by that period of time then there would be some expansion capability," Zerkle said.

Henderson has set aside $4.3 million for architectural fees; $285,000 for an interior design consultant; $41.2 million for construction costs; $5 million for furniture and equipment; and $4 million for internal construction management and permit and inspection fees.

City finance director Steve Hansen said that most of the money is being provided by a general obligation fund bond issue approved by the council in February. The city has 20 years to pay off the bond.

The remaining million will be covered by existing monies in the city's building and facility maintenance fund.