Mayor’s commission recommends demolition of government center complex

After meeting for 11 months and considering various options, the Mayor’s Commission on a New Government Center and Judicial Building presented its final recommendation to Columbus Council on Tuesday morning.

The commission expressed a preference for Option 3, which would completely demolish the downtown Government Center complex and replace it with two new buildings — one for a judicial center and the other for city offices.

The estimated $124,147,320 cost would be funded through a sales tax voters would be asked to approve after a Muscogee County School District tax for special projects expires in 2020. That would maintain the county’s overall sales tax rate at 8 percent.

Mayor Teresa Tomlinson amended the recommendation, adding that the city should pursue opportunities for the CCG to obtain existing office space for general government use, thereby requiring that only one building be built, which could save tens of millions of dollars. She said the commission agreed with her amendment.

“... Though the commission is concerned that any existing office space for general government use be functional, secure and safe as well as convey a level of civic dignity worthy of our citizens, such an opportunity would provide for a lessened capital outlay and still provide for a new judicial center,” the mayor wrote in a letter to council. “... Accordingly, it is my recommendation that Council pursue opportunities of existing office space into which CCG can move the general government functions still remaining at he Government center, and then, provide for a new or completely renovated Judicial Center, with additional square footage.”

The commission also had considered two other options: renovating the existing tower and two wings at a cost of $109,926,300, or demolishing the wings (Option 1); and renovating the tower as strictly a judicial building and adding an adjacent structure for city offices (Option 2), estimated at $114,095,520. The costs do not include expenses for relocation and furniture.

“... It is the recommendation of the Commission that Council pursue Scenario No. 3, and that said option be funded through a SPLOST in 2020 when the current school district SPLOST expires, the report said.

In a survey taken by 27 of the commission members, about 54 percent voted in favor of Option 3, 36 percent in favor of Option 2 and about 11 percent in favor of Option 1.

In a survey taken by 630 citizens, 65 percent voted for Option 3; 17 percent for Option 2; and 18 percent for Option 1.

Tomlinson, who convened the commission in January, opened Tuesday’s meeting with introductory remarks, describing the building’s deficiencies.

“As you all know it was built in 1971,” she told council. “We’re having an awful lot of system issues with it, system failures and spending a whole lot of money to repair some things in a building that ... otherwise wouldn’t pass code today.”

Other speakers included Superior Court Chief Gil McBride, City Code Enforcement Director John Hudginson, Maj. Mike Massey of the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department, and two local architects from 2WR and Hecht-Burdeshaw.

McBride said the courthouse has always been at the downtown location and the proposed plan is respectful of that heritage. None of the options are inexpensive, he said, but all are as inexpensive as they ever will be, considering construction costs.

“And finally I will add that all were really informed by a certain set of realities that are not always pleasant to face,” he said. “... One of those realities is safety. I will tell you that there is simply no safe way to evacuate a jury from a single jury room in that building, and that’s a reality that many of us would rather not talk about.”

“We’re dealing with the reality that tragedies do happen,” he added. “... The building is something that simply requires attention.”

Hudginson said the city did a space assessment as part of the research. The existing gross square footage of the Government Center is 277,632 square feet. Projected judicial space needed for the next five to seven years is 335,504 square feet.

He said it’s difficult to maintain the building because of poor access to certain areas, and that the stairwells at the center of the building are hazardous and wouldn’t meet code requirements if the building was built today.

Massey stressed security concerns such as poor lighting in the parking garage, a shortage of holding cells for inmates and having to transport inmates through the building in elevators with judges and the general population. The complex, which has two wings, also doesn’t have any fire escapes or sprinkler system beyond the ground level.

Councilor Evelyn “Mimi” Woodson asked why conceptual drawings of the buildings didn’t complement historical buildings in the area. Architects said they didn’t have time to actually design the buildings and that the structures in the drawings were just place-holders.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Mayor’s commission recommends demolition of government center complex."