Richard Brian / Special to the Sun
Thursday, June 4, 2009 | 6:26 p.m.
New City Hall
Beyond the Sun
While construction has slowed across the valley, North Las Vegas broke ground today on a new, nine-story city hall.
City leaders ceremoniously dug into the site of the new building at 2250 North Las Vegas Blvd., just north of the Silver Nugget.
Part of the 12-acre site had been a trailer park and part had been vacant. The new city hall not only removes blight but should spur economic development in the area when it opens by October 2011, City Manager Gregory Rose said.
The project also includes a three-acre park and civic plaza for community events and 3,000 square feet of retail space.
The city budgeted $142.4 million for the project, but estimates are it will cost $130 million.
“Part of the advantage of a down economy is we’re getting wonderful prices on our construction,” Rose said.
The new 210,400-square-foot building is designed to earn LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design —silver certification that will save the city $700,000 a year in energy costs, said Qiong Liu, the city public works director.
The city outgrew it’s current 28,900-square-foot building years ago, causing the city to lease other sites nearby to serve a population that has grown to 216,000. The current city hall opened in 1966 when the city was home to about 35,000 people.
“I suppose if you’re only going to do something every 50 years, you might as well do it right,” Mayor Michael Montandon said.
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