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Dallas County advances $3.7 million plan to renovate county attorney’s offices
Summary
The Board of Supervisors gave consensus to advance design and bidding for a renovation of the county attorney’s office at 902 Court after the design team reduced projected costs to about $3.708 million through value engineering; construction is targeted to start late 2026 or early 2027 and run about nine months.
The Dallas County Board of Supervisors on June 30 gave consensus to advance design and bidding for renovations to the county attorney’s offices at 902 Court after designers said they had driven the project back toward the previously proposed $3.7 million budget.
Christopher Orth of Farnsworth Group told the board the team had returned the project to ‘‘the 3.7 million’’ figure after value-engineering and scope adjustments. Turner Construction’s Jamie Rushlow said the firm’s earlier design estimate was about $4.4 million and, after revisions, the team ‘‘ended up saving… just under $700,000’’ and was at $3,708,000.
The design development includes a two-phase, roughly nine-month construction plan, a fixtures-and-furnishings budget and HVAC changes intended to give individual rooms separate temperature control. Orth and Rushlow said the plan uses new rooftop units with variable air volume controls and retains about half of the existing ductwork to reduce cost while improving thermal comfort.
The county attorney, who spoke on staffing and job classifications for two payroll exceptions tied to the office, supported the design choices that preserved individual room thermostats: ‘‘I really want this individual control because that really provides the thermal comfort,’’ he said during the discussion.
Turner reported roughly $400,000 in contingency in the current design-development estimate. The team proposed completing design work by mid-September, prequalifying bidders in August, issuing bid documents around Sept. 18 and bringing a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) amendment to the board in late October. Construction contracting was described as likely to occur in November or early December, with work possibly starting late December or in early January 2027 and the county attorney’s work expected to run through the end of September 2027.
Board members voiced support and gave consensus to proceed; staff said the project is budgeted in the county capital fund and will span two fiscal years. The board did not record a formal roll-call vote on the design-direction item (it was treated as consensus), and staff committed to return with further budget and bidding details as the design progresses.
