Harper Woods council approves architect contract for $8.2 million community center

The Harper Woods City Council voted unanimously to approve an agreement with Hannah Architects to complete design and construction administration for a proposed community center at Salter Memorial Park, approving the city-manager-recommended contract and authorizing the acting city manager to sign.

The agreement moves the project past schematic design into design development and positions the city to prepare construction documents and bid the work. Hannah Architects and a pre-construction contractor provided an estimate that places the project cost at about $8.2 million, with the architect reporting the firm’s total fee for the full contract is under 5 percent.

Why it matters: Council members said the facility would provide recreation, heat- and cooling-center capacity and year-round programming, while residents and some council members raised concerns about the city’s readiness to cover remaining costs and asked for clearer funding commitments and options to phase the work.

The architect, Beverly Hannah, president and CEO of Hannah Architects, presented the design and program concept, describing a roughly 13,611-square-foot building with a full-size gymnasium, multipurpose community rooms, a commercial kitchen and…