Glendale City Hall set for $90 million in renovations
Glendale's Downtown Campus is expected to undergo a nearly $90 million reinvestment project starting as soon as this fall.
The campus includes City Hall, Council Chambers, the campus parking structure, the E. Lowell Rogers amphitheater, and Murphy Park.
Once construction begins, the project will interfere with the utilization of the space as all employees will ultimately need to vacate the City Hall Building. Eddie Garcia, principal architect with the City of Glendale, expressed how the vacating process has already begun as a number of employees have left their offices and claimed space in various locations, including the Glendale adult center.
Derek Diesner, Glendale communications coordinator, emphasized that despite the relocation of employees, services will continue to operate.
"All city services will remain open and available to our residents."
"The majority of our public service departments will remain in downtown Glendale, as they relocate to the Glendale Civic Center," Diesner added. "All other departments will be in other pre-existing, city-owned buildings."
With so much money being budgeted toward renovations, one can't help but wonder if the campus is truly that outdated. The campus center is fairly new when compared to other buildings in the downtown area. For instance, City Hall was built 39 years ago, whereas other buildings like the Gaslight Inn have 97 years under their belt. Nevertheless, city officials say the project is necessary.
“The project is really about reinvesting in our downtown,” Garcia said.
"I think it's so much about who we are and who we want to be." Garcia went on, "and that is Glendale, our true authentic Glendale."
Yet, some true authentic Glendale business owners have other thoughts. A handful of shops expressed their opposition due to the notion that an upgraded city campus would take away from the historic downtown environment.
Jacquelyn Valrie, owner of Jax's House Boutique, said "being historic downtown, it's [the reinvestment project] taking away from all of these buildings that have been here for hundreds of years. It's not going to even match."
"It just doesn't feel good in my spirit that it's going to be brand new state of the art and everything else is going to stay the same," Valrie added.
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Meanwhile, others were in favor of the reinvestments including James Quintana. Quintana and his wife, Denise, own Coyote Oaties, a Glendale-based cookie shop.
Quintana explained how he thinks these changes could be "for the better." Though, he did share that he hopes for some of the money to be used to create a more inviting space.
While Quintana is open to supporting some changes, he does want them "to match the landscape of Glendale and the history here."
It’s not clear exactly what sort of renovations are to be expected, though according to Garcia, “it is not a typical renovation, it is much more than that.”
A City Council workshop was held on June 13th. On the agenda was a discussion of the entire reinvestment project presented by Garcia, and Diane Jacobs, principal architect of Holly Street Studios. It was reported that at the time, the project was 30% through with the design phase.
Jacobs spoke on some of the main ideas that had been discussed, of which included a complete redesign of the City Hall building (inside and out), a new shade structure for the amphitheater and updated park pathways.
Garcia never actually went into renovation specifics during an interview with The Republic. Though, he did make multiple efforts to emphasize that the project is not a renovation, but rather a series of reinvestments.
"As far as what to expect, we're hoping that our strategic approach to the project, from a reinvestment standpoint, is making it a destination for the downtown, because we do see it as the heart of the community."
With very few changes yet to be set in stone, one thing is clear, and that is the proposed budget is increasingly more than it was last year. In January 2022, the project was estimated to cost $70 million dollars. The number now stands at $90 million, a significant increase.
Levi Gibson, Glendale's director of Budget and Finance, explained that funding for the downtown campus reinvestment project (DCRP) is made up of the following components:
The Amphitheatre is being financed with General Obligation Cultural Facility Bonds
Murphy Park is being financed with General Obligation Parks Bonds.
The Parking Structure is being financed with General Obligation Government Facilities Bonds.
City Hall and the Council Chambers are being financed with a combination of General Obligation Government Facilities Bonds, fund balance (cash), and a relatively small amount of ARPA funding for the health and safety components of the buildings.
"In short, the DCRP is being funded by a combination of General Obligation Bonds, fund balance (cash), and a relatively small amount of ARPA funding for the health and safety components of the buildings," Gibson said in a statement.
As designing is still in the early phases, there has yet to be a set start date for construction. Though Garcia mentioned that construction will likely begin before the end of this year.
"We hope that the project will be complete and open for business again, by the end of 2025," Garcia added.
"This project, it covers a couple things," Garcia noted. "One, it brings us into the next generation by investing in our infrastructure and in our community. And secondly, I think more importantly, it becomes a point of pride for our community."
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale City Hall set for $90 million in renovations
