Here’s what Conway’s new city hall could cost the taxpayers according to proposed plans
Conway is still a ways off from building its new city hall, but preliminary cost estimates are in.
The city could pay between $15 and $20 million for the new government center depending on the size and amenities included in the new downtown building.
Conway City Council met in a workshop on Tuesday to discuss the plans. No votes were taken and no decisions made. City Administrator Adam Emerick said the purpose of the meeting was to inform council and the public of what the costs could be.
Over the summer, Conway leaders began meeting with representatives from Stubbs Muldrow Herin architects to start the early work of designing a new city hall. The building would likely be located near the current court house on Main Street right at the mouth of the Highway 501 Business bridge.
Early designs for the building feature green spaces, water features and plenty of room to consolidate the city government into one building. In addition, it allows for expansion as the city grows.
One possibility includes a three-story building that architect Billy Connell said maximizes the space. It would be 50,000 square feet and estimated to cost more than $20 million. The second option is a two-story building, 36,000 square feet in size and costing $15 million.
These are just cost estimates to complete the project. These numbers could change based off actual costs of construction, changes to the plan by council and a variety of other factors.
“This is the beginning,” Connell said. “The point is to make sure we don’t get too far down the road and find out we’re over budget.”
Council Member William Goldfinch said he thought the expected costs of the project would be under $10 million. He thought the designs sounded great, but was worried about committing that much public money to a building.
“That’s like 1,000 dollars per citizen,” he said.
He proposed potentially moving the building to a different site in hopes of making the project cheaper and more functional. Council Member Jean Timbes believes leaders need to make sure the building is functional but also something the community can be proud of over the potential 100-year lifetime of the building.
“We don’t want to cut away at costs until it is something we are not proud of,” she said.
Moving forward, council will continue to set priorities that will dictate how the building is constructed, what it’ll include and what the cost estimates are.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 5:39 PM.
