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Punta Gorda council asks staff for budgetary rehab number for historic city hall
Summary
Councilors asked staff for a budget estimate focused on rehabilitating the 1978 addition and to return to a workshop with a narrower, quicker plan after reviewing a guaranteed maximum price that exceeded city funds.
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Punta Gorda city councilors on Wednesday directed staff to return to a Jan. 21 workshop with a budgetary cost to rehabilitate the 1978 addition to historic City Hall and with options for limiting the project scope.
The vote followed a staff presentation of a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) from the contractor and architect showing two totals: $19,163,112 if a new third-floor shell is included and roughly $18,000,000 with the third-floor shell removed. Staff said the city currently has about $15.1 million in unencumbered funds.
City staff framed the question as a choice between moving forward with a full rehabilitation under the GMP or pursuing smaller, faster work to restore the council chamber and address Americans with Disabilities Act issues. “The goal for the workshop will be a budgetary number to rehabilitate just City Hall,” a staff presenter told the council, emphasizing that blocking off the 1978 addition and estimating the cost for that area was the priority for the next meeting.
Councilors repeatedly urged speed and clarity. One councilor recalled earlier project estimates from 2020 that were far lower and said the process cannot take another several years. Another councilor asked staff to provide budgetary figures showing the cost to repair the existing building only — “figure out what it’s gonna cost to repair it and fix things that need to be fixed, like the ADA issues,” she said — so the council could weigh a more limited rehabilitation against the full rebuild cost.
Staff offered to open the building for tours before the workshop and agreed to publish scheduling information so residents and council committee members could inspect the condition firsthand. The council also asked staff to identify what costs were included in the GMP (for example, furniture and fixtures) because councilors noted the GMP figure did not appear to include all moving parts and therefore could understate the ultimate price tag.
No formal contract award or authorization to proceed was made Wednesday; the council’s direction was procedural: bring back a budgetary rehabilitate-only number focused on the 1978 addition, block off the most-damaged areas, and present more precise comparative figures at the Jan. 21 workshop.
Council members said they want the workshop to produce a short list of options and corresponding cost ranges and asked staff to prepare those figures quickly so the council can decide within months rather than years.
