Council members for the city of Springfield voted 9 to 0 in favor of renovating the 132-year-old Historic City Hall building. Jennifer Swan, the architect for the city, detailed the renovations to be made from the basement to the third floor in a presentation to council members.
“The improvements include the addition of a new elevator interior fire stair, accessible restrooms, upgraded mechanical and electrical systems, office space for various city departments, improvements to the city council chambers, improved archive storage space,” Swan said at a January 23 meeting.
The city is managing this construction project using a method called Construction Manager at Risk, or CMAR, which is meant to help manage costs and streamline the project. A guaranteed maximum price is set during the design process, and the construction manager of the project covers the fees if it exceeds the costs set. Swan believes that CMAR delivery is beneficial to the project.
“Due to the challenging nature and the potential complexities of this project, it is believed that CMAR delivery will be a benefit due to the constructability review cost,” said Swan.
Tim Rosenbury, the city’s director of Quality of Place Initiatives, told the Daily Citizen that using CMAR for city projects also makes the whole process smoother.
“With CMAR, you bring on the construction firm in the beginning of the design, and you get the benefit of knowing what they know. A construction firm is brought on even as the design is being developed and is involved as part of the team,” Rosenbury said.
The City Hall building was built in 1891 and opened in 1894 as a customs house, post office and courthouse. The city of Springfield purchased the building in 1938, and it was registered as a landmark in 1979.
A big renovation for the building came in 1913 that expanded the north side of the building and wrapped around the east side. In 1932, a small elevator was added in the center of the rotunda stairway.
Plans to help make these newest renovations possible go back a few years. In 2017, the city of Springfield budgeted $6.4 million through its level property tax. In 2021, more funds were secured through the American Rescue Plan Act, which granted the city $4 million.
Rosenbury detailed the timeline for when the project would be finished. “Construction will probably begin in the second half of 2024 and be completed in 18 months,” Rosenbury said.
