A.G. Gancarski
Visitors to Jacksonville’s City Hall may have noticed something … different … this week.
Renovations to the front entrance of City Hall on Duval Street are underway, requiring visitors to use the entrance on Laura Street for the rest of the year, says the office of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry.
The price tag on the renovations is $549,000. Although some believe otherwise, FloridaPolitics.com was assured that 100 percent of that price tag is going toward complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
What will the city get for more than a half-million dollars? Quite a bit, according to the contract with KBT Contracting, which won the bid over the “non-responsive” competitor, J.B. Tripp Company. The project includes:
[L]abor, materials, transportation, equipment, and supervision; and performing all operations necessary to complete upgrades at the City Hall (St. James) Building … including, but not limited, to renovation, completion of finishes, new sidewalks, entrance landings, walks, steps, ramps, railing, planters, modification of the existing store front system at the east entrance to add new entrance doors, and related construction of cast stone brick pavers, concrete, retaining wall, concrete masonry foundation walls, concrete and steel structural framing and foundations, precast stones, landscaping improvements, tree grates, bollard relocation, electrical work, irrigation work, plumbing work, and all other related work not specified herein but which is necessary to complete the project.
The St. James Building, was designed by architect Henry Klutho over 100 years ago as a department store. The exodus of meaningful retail from downtown left it vacant until Mayor Ed Austin revived the structure in his River City Renaissance initiative.
