Wichita Falls Council approves $16.3 million city hall renovation bid

Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News
·2 min read

Wichita Falls City councilors on Tuesday passed a resolution authorizing a guaranteed maximum price of $16,389,745 paid to Anthony Inman Construction for renovation of City Hall offices in the Memorial Auditorium Building.

The money comes from the $29.1 million the city received from the federal government in COVID-19 relief money. The total cost of the renovation project has risen from the original $12.5 million to $19.1 million. The higher figure comes from “soft costs” that include interior design, architect and engineering fees and permitting.

The Wichita Falls City Council on Tuesday approved a contractor for extensive renovations of offices in City Hall.
The Wichita Falls City Council on Tuesday approved a contractor for extensive renovations of offices in City Hall.

It also included $1 million in rental fees to privately-owned downtown buildings to house city offices while the renovation is underway for the next two years.

Assistant City Manager Blake Jurecek said staff would begin moving into those buildings on Wednesday.

City Council meetings will be held at the MPEC beginning the second meeting in March during the overhaul. Those meetings will continue to be streamed on the city’s Facebook page.

Councilors also authorized the sale of 28 acres at the Wichita Falls Business Park to BHD Land Development LLC for $1.96 million. BHD will design and construct an extension of Production Boulevard.

Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce President Ron Kitchens said the land and extension will accommodate the location of a new business in the park. The company is expected to create 75 to 100 new jobs. Kitchens said he could not yet reveal the name of the business.

The council voted to nominate Vitro Flat Glass, the former PPG plant, to the Texas Governor’s Office for designation as an Enterprise Project. The designation would give Vitro a tax break in exchange for making capital improvements and hiring disadvantaged workers and veterans.

Councilors also authorized the city’s Type B Sales Tax Corporation to provide Sheppard Air Force Base $398,000 over four years to replaced weed-infested open areas at the base with grasses that do not attract bird that could collide with military and civilian aircraft.

The panel OK’d the purchase of three mowers for the Parks Department and signed off on applying for a state terrorist prevention grant.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Renovations, a new business and dangerous birds top council agenda