City Hall renovation costs grow to $8.6 million

The cost to renovate Des Moines City Hall has grown by more than $2 million to $8.6 million as the city continues to expand the scope of the project.

Last week, the city approved an additional $1.5 million for the project. It is the eighth time the price tag has increased since construction began last year.

Initial plans called for a $6.3 million upgrade to mechanical systems and fire sprinklers in the historic downtown building, located at 400 Robert D. Ray Drive. City offices were moved to the Municipal Service Center, 1551 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, last spring.

The latest increase will pay for upgrades to city offices. It will add another six months to the project, keeping city workers in temporary offices until at least February 2018.

The $8.6 million project cost does not include the roughly $1 million the city is paying to relocate City Hall staff for two years.

"When this started ... I was newly elected and everybody was gung-ho and ready to get this done," Councilman Joe Gatto said Friday. "I felt we were doing the wrong thing by hurrying and not doing some planning."

City Manager Scott Sanders said a lot of the additional costs are a result of unexpected work uncovered during the renovation. He called the latest change order an "opportunity" to add some permanent offices while the building is already under construction.

It was revealed during a workshop last week that the wall between the men's restroom and the city attorney's office was so thin that staffers could hear urination.

"Yes, this is expensive, but you need to understand that we've made the improvements necessary to keep City Hall as a functioning building for city government," Sanders said.

About $544,680 approved last week  will pay for updates to the mayor's office and council members' offices, broadcasting capabilities, wall changes and mechanics. Another $950,000 will add a larger conference room, an updated clerk's office with an enlarged public waiting area and other office adjustments.

Councilmen Gatto and Skip Moore voted against the cost increases during a City Council meeting on May 8.

"I've been getting a lot of inquiries from citizens about when are we going back to City Hall and  ... (now) we're going to add 72 calendar days to this project," Moore said. "I'm going to vote no on this just as a protest."

Riverbank repair will be costly

Des Moines will spend $2.5 million to repair a bank of the Des Moines River that collapsed near City Hall in January.

City officials determined the collapsed was caused by a hole in a sewage box that ruptured.

The riverbank will be restored in September.