Government Center entrance may reopen next month

The ground floor tower of the Columbus Government Center may reopen next month because the city cut some work that was expected to take up to six months to complete.

“We are looking to complete the ground floor sometime in mid August,” Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin said Tuesday. “We are not at this point doing all that we originally said we were going to do.”

Used by employees and visitors, the ground floor entrance has been temporarily closed since May 26, the day after Memorial Day, and moved to plaza level off Ninth Street. The renovation was part of a $1 million project approved by Columbus Council a year ago but it will be cut short to consider more extensive changes in phase two. “We are going to halt what we are doing,” Goodwin said.

Without a true front entrance to the building, Goodwin said the city will look at a major renovation to the front door. “We are trying to create a true front door at a later date,” she said. When the work started in May, the renovation included new flooring, a new work station for a Citizen Service Center employee, security station and other improvements to rest rooms and walls. So far, Goodwin said crews have renovated the customer service area and opened up the ground floor. Both restrooms have been renovated, ground floor lighting has been improved and fresh painting completed. The additional work will cost more money and would have to win council approval. Officials have some preliminary costs for the project but none to release.

“Phase two is coming,” Goodwin said. “It’s going to be beautiful.”

This story was originally published July 21, 2009 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Government Center entrance may reopen next month."