Pittsboro selects HH Architecture for town hall design and adopts capital project ordinance

The Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners on March 9 approved selecting HH Architecture (Raleigh) to provide architectural services for the town hall project and adopted a capital project ordinance to move the project into the design phase.

Project engineer Ben Schranick told the board the town purchased property at 204 J. Farrell Street in July and solicited statements of qualifications; 13 firms responded and the selection committee ranked HH Architecture as most qualified. Staff described a preliminary program based on a 20,000–25,000 square‑foot building with a boardroom and office space, and said the town aims to vacate the current town hall by 2028 and begin construction in 2027 with an estimated construction duration of about 16 months.

Schranick and other staff noted the project’s preliminary budgeting and ongoing efforts to keep design and cost aligned through a construction‑manager‑at‑risk procurement approach. The board voted to authorize the town manager to enter a professional services agreement with HH Architecture and later adopted the capital project ordinance by voice vote.

Contract figure in meeting record: during the motion the audio includes a garbled not‑to‑exceed amount; the transcript records a conflicting number sequence and the meeting record should be checked for the official contract ceiling in the agenda packet and signed contract. To avoid repeating the garbled audio, the board authorization in this article is described as: the board authorized the manager to enter a professional services agreement with HH Architecture, with the contract amount to be confirmed in the official executed agreement and town packet.

Next steps: staff will proceed to contract negotiations, schedule a community input drop‑in early in the design phase, present design milestones to the board and select a construction manager at risk (CMR) in May as part of the procurement timeline.