City Hall, parking budget pushes $15 million

The budget has been stretched for the construction of a new Whitefish City Hall and parking structure in order to include items deemed to be too important to cut from the project.

City Council on June 15 approved spending $13.95 million for the City Hall building and attached parking structure. The city also plans to spend an additional $1 million on moving costs and to lease an interim City Hall during construction.

Councilor Andy Feury said he understands concerns about the price tag.

“Is it expensive — yes,” he said. “Is it a lot of money — you bet it is. Is it something we take lightly — absolutely not. Is it something that will be here 100 years from now and we can be proud of — yes.”

Decisions made by council in March had set the spending limit at $13 million. That number included the City Hall/parking structure, a half-floor basement and a 3,000 square-foot-retail space in the parking structure.

The cost limit didn’t include rental of office space for up to two years, moving expenses, or the cost of the owner’s representative contract.

Martel Construction came on as the general contractor and developed a detailed cost estimate that put the project at about $14.8 million, not including moving expenses.

Since then a subcommittee worked with Mosaic Architecture and Martel to find ways to reduce costs.

One idea was to eliminate the east side parking garage basement while adding two bays to the upper tier without losing any parking spaces. The other was to eliminate a second concrete masonry unit wall between City Hall and the parking structure.

“City Hall is right on budget,” City Manager Chuck Stearns said. “The difference is the parking structure and what the community wants to make it look good.”

Council on June 15 looked at three options. In addition, to the option it chose, it also could have increased the construction budget to the $14.8 million. That would have required it to increase the tax-increment bond to cover the cost.

It selected the option at $13.95 million that made some reductions by eliminating 18 spaces in the parking garage, reducing the basement to about 3,500 square feet, and not finishing the basement walls.

Council also could have gone even further with reductions to get the cost down to $13 million. That would have eliminated design elements, such as window screens on the west side of the garage to hide parked cars from view, detailed window frames on the west side, and canopies over the sidewalk. Making the west side of the garage a “skeleton” structure — similar to what is designed for the east side — could save $425,000, Stearns noted.

“Reductions at this point would likely sacrifice many of the exterior architectural elements,” Stearns said. “The subcommittee has generally been very unwilling to eliminate these elements as many think that it is these elements that are vital to community acceptance of a parking structure.”

Mosaic architect Ben Tintinger said the parking structure, as designed, does not resemble a typical parking garage.

“It looks like a building that fits downtown Whitefish,” he said.

The retail component of the parking structure adds $190,000 to the project cost.

“Retail is important as noted by the public and the downtown master plan,” Stearns said.

Stearns noted that the tax-increment finance district revenue has been saved for the City Hall/parking structure since 2003. In addition, the use of a tax-increment bond for the project will not impact Whitefish residents’ property taxes, he said.

Feury said the cost of the project at about $200 per square foot is reasonable and the parking garage is the best option for creating downtown parking.

“The parking garage is about the same cost as surface lots and getting 200 parking spots in downtown would be difficult without a garage,” he said.

Councilor Sarah Fitzgerald reiterated that the cost of the project includes constructing City Hall and a parking structure.

“The main cost is the parking garage,” she said. “Surface parking is more expensive than this garage.”

Fitzgerald agreed that the current project isn’t exactly what has been talked about for years, but inflation has increased the price.

“We’ve waited 12 years and look at where the price is now,” she said. “That number is going to double or quadruple if we wait longer. I’m excited we’re moving forward and it’s about time.”