The basement is gutted, asbestos
is out, and elevators are on their way in. Ann Arbor's city hall
building is taking shape inside and out.
The $47 million expansion of the Guy C. Larcom City Hall, at the corner of East Huron and East Ann streets, will add
102,000 square feet of space for the Ann Arbor Police Department and the
15th District Court.
Former Ann Arbor City Project Manager Bill Wheeler, who is now retired and working
under contract until the project is finished, explains that the
building's exterior is fairly complete except for some site work, such
as sidewalks. Inside, heating, ductwork, doors, and drywall have been installed. "The
interior is really starting to look like a building now," he says. "It's
really starting to look nice inside."
Heating and ventilation equipment are now on
the roof, and structural steel for the new elevators is in place on the
south side of the building, replacing the old, non-compliant and
expensive-to-maintain elevators.
Phase I of the project is to build the 15th District Court
and police facilities on the west side of City Hall, formerly a parking
lot. Phase II will remodel the basement and first floors. Wheeler said although the original plan was to finish the first
phase before moving on to the second, basement work has already started,
including gutting the space, removing asbestos, and installing block walls. It will be used mostly for police
locker rooms and evidence rooms.
Wheeler hopes to see the interior wrapped up by mid-November, although to attain LEED gold status, the heating and
ventilation systems have to run for a time to flush out contaminants.
City employees can likely start moving in by mid-December, although work
is expected to continue on the Larcom building until next May, he says.
One more benefit to the finished project is that the police department,
building and housing departments, and some court offices that are either now spread out
in other city buildings or borrowing space will come back together in
one central location.
"If you're a builder kind of guy, it's very exciting to see something go from nothing to what it is now,"
Wheeler says.
Source: Bill Wheeler, former Ann Arbor City Project Manager
Writer: Kristin Lukowski
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