City plans move from building on Grand
Jim Merkel
Of the Suburban Journals
South City Journal
The city is taking the first steps to move about 200 employees out of a building it owns at 634 N. Grand Blvd.
The city's Board of Public Service is preparing requests for proposals by bidders that would provide new space for 146 employees of the Department of Health and 52 workers for the Department of Human Services.
The legislation creating an $80 million tax increment financing district for the arts area around North Grand Boulevard calls for Grand Center, Inc. to buy the 634 N. Grand building from the city for $3.2 million.
Grand Center, Inc. is a redevelopment and cultural organization for the North Grand arts area.
Grand Center has made arrangements for arts organizations that also use the 634 N. Grand building to relocate to the Medinah Arts Center, 3547 Olive St., said Ken Christian of Grand Center's real estate department.
Those arts organizations are subleasing space from Grand Center, Inc. Grand Center, Inc., has 25,000 square feet of space on the 10th, the 12th and half the 11th floors under a lease with the city.
The city currently has a five-year lease with Grand Center, Inc. that goes through September 2006. The cost is $1 a year.
While a number of developers have looked at the building, "There is no definitive plan for what it is going to be developed into," Christian said. One possible use is as a hotel.
According to Marjorie Melton, president of the city's Board of Public Service, the city plans to put out a request for proposals for new space for the city offices by the end of the month.
After giving 45 days for proposals to come in and another 30 days to evaluate them, Melton said, "We should have somebody that we're negotiating with by June."
If a facility is available by June, it would take another six months to move in, Melton said. If construction is required, it would take another year.
In one alternative, the City Courts would move into the same new building as the Health and Human Services departments.
Officials of the Health Department and the Department of Human Services both said there was a need for new facilities.
"It's not the most efficient setup for us being split on different floors and having different agencies kind of intermixed in with," said Leslie Compton-Pruett, spokeswoman for the health department. "We've kind of been looking for a facility that was more modern and updated and that would suit our purposes better."
"There's been ongoing problems in this building and we think at this point certainly alternate quarters would be a good idea," said William Siedhoff, director of the city Department of Human Services.
The main problem has been with the elevators, Siedhoff said.
"Repairs have been made, but it's an old building. It's obviously in need of substantial upgrading and renovation," Siedhoff said.
Jim Merkel
Of the Suburban Journals
South City Journal
The city is taking the first steps to move about 200 employees out of a building it owns at 634 N. Grand Blvd.
The city's Board of Public Service is preparing requests for proposals by bidders that would provide new space for 146 employees of the Department of Health and 52 workers for the Department of Human Services.
The legislation creating an $80 million tax increment financing district for the arts area around North Grand Boulevard calls for Grand Center, Inc. to buy the 634 N. Grand building from the city for $3.2 million.
Grand Center, Inc. is a redevelopment and cultural organization for the North Grand arts area.
Grand Center has made arrangements for arts organizations that also use the 634 N. Grand building to relocate to the Medinah Arts Center, 3547 Olive St., said Ken Christian of Grand Center's real estate department.
Those arts organizations are subleasing space from Grand Center, Inc. Grand Center, Inc., has 25,000 square feet of space on the 10th, the 12th and half the 11th floors under a lease with the city.
The city currently has a five-year lease with Grand Center, Inc. that goes through September 2006. The cost is $1 a year.
While a number of developers have looked at the building, "There is no definitive plan for what it is going to be developed into," Christian said. One possible use is as a hotel.
According to Marjorie Melton, president of the city's Board of Public Service, the city plans to put out a request for proposals for new space for the city offices by the end of the month.
After giving 45 days for proposals to come in and another 30 days to evaluate them, Melton said, "We should have somebody that we're negotiating with by June."
If a facility is available by June, it would take another six months to move in, Melton said. If construction is required, it would take another year.
In one alternative, the City Courts would move into the same new building as the Health and Human Services departments.
Officials of the Health Department and the Department of Human Services both said there was a need for new facilities.
"It's not the most efficient setup for us being split on different floors and having different agencies kind of intermixed in with," said Leslie Compton-Pruett, spokeswoman for the health department. "We've kind of been looking for a facility that was more modern and updated and that would suit our purposes better."
"There's been ongoing problems in this building and we think at this point certainly alternate quarters would be a good idea," said William Siedhoff, director of the city Department of Human Services.
The main problem has been with the elevators, Siedhoff said.
"Repairs have been made, but it's an old building. It's obviously in need of substantial upgrading and renovation," Siedhoff said.