After years of delays, Florida Capitol's front doors will reopen with new look
The front doors of the Florida State Capitol will be reopened to the public this fall as an extensive renovation project to bring the building in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act nears completion.
Phase one of a $45 million redesign that replaces hundreds of steps of a multi-tier plaza that extends from Duval Street up a hill to the Capitol building with elevators and ramps will be completed this fall.
Visitors will be able to access the upper plaza of Waller Park and the Capitol's front doors, closed as part of a construction site for the past three years, from a walkaway along Pensacola and South Adams streets.
Original plans had called for the entire project to be completed three years ago but work on the plaza was delayed when structural defects in the parking garages under the Senate and House office buildings were discovered in 2016 and full completion was pushed to 2024.
Repairs to the garages required removal of 7,300 tons of soil and about 154 trees, shrubs, and rose bushes planted when the Capitol Complex was built in 1977.
Earlier this summer, another dozen live oak trees that lined the plaza’s entrance along Duval Street had to be removed to protect the complex’s underground infrastructure.
A DMS spokesman said the redesign project is currently on budget, but final costs will not be known until the project is fully completed, which is about a year away.
“That accounts for additional time needed to address unforeseen circumstances such as excavating exterior dirt and waterproofing the sides around the underground garage down to the base,” said DMS spokesman Dan Barrow in an email exchange.
An aerial view rendering of the construction site shows an open-air two-tier plaza with ramps and elevators at the Duval Street entrance to Waller Park and an upper plaza that features the Great Seal of the state of Florida squarely in front of the Capitol doors, an area where rallies and demonstrations often occur.
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“We’ve created a design that will express a welcoming and inviting spirit," said Rodney Lewis of Architects Lewis + Whitlock, a Tallahassee-based firm.
The project installation of elevators and ramps in an area known as Waller Park is the result of a 2012 settlement to an accessibility lawsuit.
Denny Wood of the Florida Paraplegic Association dropped the suit once the Department of Management Services pledged to complete a thorough survey of ADA-compliance needs for the building, where 1,500 people work and on average 5,000 people visit daily during a legislative session.
Wood passed away nine months after he and DMS settled the dispute.
At the time of his passing, then Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantero tweeted he was an “irascible activist for the disabled.”
Since the settlement a host of accessibility issues have been addressed throughout the Capitol Complex, including lower counters to accommodate people in chairs, side access to commodes, and more signage in Braile.
The work outside and to the entrance of the Capitol building itself is the most visible result of Wood’s court victory.
It included turning off the Florida Heritage Fountain along Duval, where the five-ton aluminum and steel sculpture of frolicking dolphins is displayed.
The “Stormsong” sculpture, when freed of construction barriers, is a gathering spot for tourists to snap photos of their Capitol visit.
The Florida Heritage Fountain will be turned back once the redesign project is fully completed in the fall of 2024, according to DMS.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Capitol renovation project almost complete after delays
