City Hall addition move-in set Sept. 6

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, July 23, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.

Henderson city employees are now expected to begin moving into the new $41.8 million City Hall addition on Sept. 6 instead of this month as previously thought, the city's construction manager said Tuesday.

The target date for the move-in would still be earlier than the original construction schedule, by three months.

City Construction Manager John Simmons said the predictions of a mid-July move-in he made in April were simply too optimistic. Also, several minor problems arose since then, slowing down what had been rapid progress on the building. For example, the fire sprinklers and smoke-evacuation system, which would draw smoke out of the building, both turned out to be more difficult than expected, and there were some delays caused by scheduling problems with subcontractors, he said.

"We lost some time but we're still ahead of schedule," Simmons said.

The telephone system is already installed, and the carpet and furniture are either being installed or will be soon, he said.

The new five-story, 220,000-square-foot addition to City Hall is the largest piece of Henderson's $72.3 million City Hall expansion project, which includes the addition, a $1.6 million renovation of the existing City Hall building, plus the cost of architectural and design work, and new furniture and other equipment.

The general contractor, Dick Corp. of Pittsburgh, began construction in January 2002 and has until Sept. 23, 2004, to finish the project, including renovating the existing City Hall building.

Renovations to the existing City Hall are expected to take seven months. During that time City Council meetings will be held at the Henderson Convention Center. When they return to Council Chambers there will be another 80 seats for the audience.

When finished, the new and renovated City Hall buildings will have enough office space for 725 city employees. The existing City Hall was designed for up to 193 employees, but an additional 300 city staff members now work out of the building.

Staff from the neighborhood services, construction management and public works departments will move into the new addition first, and the rest of the employees in the existing City Hall will be moving within the following 32 days, Simmons said.

Hopes are that the completion time for the project will stand in contrast to the $7.5 million six-level parking garage attached to the large new building. The parking garage opened about a year ago, almost four months behind schedule.

In early April the City Council agreed to accept a $420,000 settlement for damages associated with the missed deadline.