Monday, May 09, 2011
A Tale of Two City Halls
Las Vegas, North Las Vegas building concurrent projects
Las Vegas and North Las Vegas are building city halls that promise to make big civic statements about sustainability, conservation and efficiency. Both buildings are taking shape during trying economic times when public spending has come under sharp scrutiny. Yet the city halls will each consolidate and improve public services while forging new identities about community values and ambitions.
Both projects have the same general contractor — Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. is building both. The city halls are both taking shape on blighted sites; the undertakings are each viewed as critical components for downtown redevelopment.
Both buildings are using photovoltaic panels for renewable power production. And each project is seeking a silver-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Building Council, which rates projects based on points awarded for things like air quality and recycling.
LAS VEGAS CITY HALL
Height: 8 stories
Square Feet: 308,990
Cost: $146.2 million
Acreage: 2.71
LEED: Silver
Completion: 2012
NORTH LAS VEGAS CITY HALL
Height: 9 stories
Square Feet: 210,400
Cost: $142 million
Acreage: 12
LEED: Silver
Completion: 2011
DUANE PROKOP | LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck, seen May 3 in her office, said a new city hall building will be a hallmark of downtown redevelopment that helps spark new building activity.
“Both cities are building green, which makes a statement about their beliefs and long-term vision,” said Rick Van Diepen, 2011 president of the Las Vegas chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. “The commitment to building green demonstrates fiscal and environmental responsibility.”
LAS VEGAS
Last year, the city of Las Vegas broke ground on its new downtown digs. The $146.2 million project is a public-private partnership, lease-purchase agreement between Cleveland-based developer Forest City Enterprises and the city. The pact enables the city to build anew without draining its bank account.
Critics have openly questioned the need for a new building and big expense during an economic recession. But proponents say the current city hall building is 38 years old and needs millions in upgrades. And, they say, a new city hall will create 6,068 permanent jobs and generate $8 million in increased tax revenue.
The decision to press ahead with construction last year was vindicated when online retail giant Zappos.com agreed to lease and refurbish the existing city hall complex at 400 E. Stewart Ave.
“This is a game-changer for Southern Nevada,” Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said. “This move will bring about a critical mass of creative persons to the inner core of Las Vegas in addition to causing a significant shot in the arm for the economy and for new jobs.”
Construction of a new city hall also reinvigorates an otherwise unsightly property. The eight-story building replaces the 46-year-old Queen of Hearts Hotel at 19 E. Lewis Ave., which had been shuttered since 2007. The notorious hotel had been a den for crime, prostitution and drug activity. The three-story, 100-room building, on 2.71 acres, was razed by LVI Environmental Services in February 2010.
The steel-and-glass city hall building is bound by First and Main streets and Lewis and Clark avenues. The 308,990-square-foot building will house a 500-seat chamber council, public exhibit areas and 250,000 square feet of offices. Las Vegas-based JMA is the executive architect, with Elkus Manfredi Architects, Boston, as design consultant.
The city hall project touts the latest in sustainable-building technology, with a 40,000-square-foot public plaza along Clark Street consisting of 33 solar trees that double as pedestrian shade awnings. The structures, which vary from 40 feet to 60 feet in height, will generate 50 kilowatts of photovoltaic electricity. The 135-foot-long building also has 7,000 square feet of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels. The solar components will trim the city’s energy costs by more than a half-million dollars annually, while reducing its overall carbon footprint by 2,348 metric tons.
“The mayor wanted to create a dynamic civic space that made a statement about the community,” JMA President Thomas Schoeman said. “The city wants to be a sustainable-oriented public agency. I think it’s important to them because public buildings are a statement about where you live.”
Part of the statement includes shade fins that line the exterior building façade — they’re meant to symbolize water and its role in shaping Las Vegas with Hoover Dam. The fins are wired with light-emitting diodes that create a colorful show like only Las Vegas can.
“The fins are completely programmable and powered by the building’s photovoltaic panels,” Schoeman said. “Solar power and green building were an important part of the project and reflect the city’s future.”
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Nearby, North Las Vegas is busy shaping its own future with a new city hall building. The $142 million project broke ground at 2250 Las Vegas Blvd. North, in June 2009. The nine-story tower is supported by a steel-frame skeleton clad with Giallo Veneziano granite, which is a light tan, white and black-flecked stone from Brazil. Denver-based Fentress Architects, the firm responsible for the Clark County Government Center, designed the building.
“We designed a city hall to solve the problems of today and serve the community of tomorrow,” said Curtis Fentress, principal-in-charge of design at Fentress Architects. “By consolidating multiple departments into a single building, allowing flexibility for growth, and designing with sustainable, money-saving options, the new city hall is an investment in the future of North Las Vegas.”
The city decided to make that investment during the height of Southern Nevada’s real estate boom in 2006. The abrupt economic turnabout has since enabled the city to renegotiate lower pricing on several construction items that enabled upgraded finishes like Giallo Veneziano granite.
“This project will be a hallmark of downtown redevelopment that helps spark new building activity and sets an example for others to follow,” North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck said. “We wanted a building that would be a landmark, something people would view with pride, and that was going to last for 100 years.
The 210,400-square-foot building will be seven times larger than the North Las Vegas’ current city hall, which was opened in 1966 when the city’s population was only about 35,000. Decades of unabated growth has since forced the city to lease additional space at sites scattered throughout town. U.S. Census Bureau figures released in March show North Las Vegas’ population surged from 115,490 in 2000 to 216,960 in 2010, an 88 percent increase.
“City hall is our largest building to date,” North Las Vegas engineering planning manager Tom Brady said. “It’s going to place departments from nine different buildings under one roof.”
Three hundred fifty city employees will work in the new building. The first level will contain council chambers and a one-stop shop for development services, with several development-related offices located directly above on the second floor. Levels three through nine will contain the remaining divisions and departments, with city council and city manager offices perched on the top floor. The project also has a community component with an interactive spray pad and a four-acre outdoor plaza area with a mobile stage for events, concerts and farmers markets.
North Las Vegas City Hall, like its counterpart, is an adaptive reuse project; the complex sits on 12 acres near the northwest corner of Hunkins Drive and McDaniel Street where a defunct trailer park once stood. It, too, uses several sustainable building strategies that will lower heating and cooling bills while conserving natural resources. The project is expected to save the city $700,000 a year in energy costs, city public works director Qiong Liu said.
The building will have photovoltaic panels on its rooftop and on a portion of its 600-space surface parking lot. The two installations are expected to generate about 12 percent of the facility’s total electrical use. North Las Vegas is recycling 75 percent of debris generated during construction.
The project emphasizes indoor air quality through high-efficiency mechanical systems, natural daylight and low-volatility organic compound glues and adhesives. There are also low-flow plumbing fixtures and drought-tolerant landscaping that conserve water.
North Las Vegas City Hall is expected to make its debut by year’s end.
“This is our first large-scale project in North Las Vegas, and we really wanted to make a design statement,” Brady said. “Sustainability made sense because we can’t afford to have a lot in operational costs during these tough financial times. We’re trying to go green with all of our new buildings.”
Contact reporter Tony Illia at 702-303-5699 or tonyillia@aol.com.
Article source: http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2011/05/09/news/iq_44049763.txt
