Clearwater advances $45M plan for new City Hall, office upgrades
By Tracey McManus
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Jun 16, 2023

CLEARWATER — The City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to begin design work for a City Hall to be built along Myrtle Avenue, directly south of the Municipal Services Building in downtown.

Council members had settled last year on the site, a vacant, city-owned lot at the southwest corner of Myrtle Avenue and Pierce Street with the Pinellas Trail and Clearwater Police Department to the west. But on Thursday, they selected a stand-alone City Hall concept among two other configuration options.

The City Hall is estimated to cost $31.5 million but would be coupled with a renovation of the 27-year-old Municipal Services Building next door for a total of $44.8 million, according to Wannemacher Jensen Architects.

The city hired the firm in September for $3 million to cover the conceptual planning and design work. For the project to go ahead, the council would need to approve a construction contract at a later date.

The concept calls for a 41,679 square foot City Hall on Myrtle Avenue with a grassy “town square” covering the rest of the property to the Pinellas Trail to create entrances on both sides.

“This building really has no back door,” architect Jason Jensen told the council during a work session on Monday.

The parcel also sits directly north of the property where the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority plans to build a $44.5 million modernized transit center.

Mayor Brian Aungst Sr. on Thursday proposed that City Hall be named after former City Manager Bill Horne, who led city administration for 20 years and died in August 2021, three weeks before his planned retirement.

The rest of the council agreed, but the action will be added to the July meeting agenda for a formal vote.

One of the discarded concepts was to build a government center that would have combined City Hall and the Municipal Services Building into one new structure and cost $76.2 million.

During a budget workshop in March, four council members agreed to have the architects explore the concept for a combined government center, that at the time, city staff estimated to cost $90 million. The fact it was even being considered prompted then-Mayor Frank Hibbard to resign on the spot, citing the issue as an unworkable difference in their philosophies.

But during this week’s work session the council gave little attention to the combined government center option, agreeing the standalone City Hall next to the existing Municipal Services Building was the best plan.

The other discarded concept proposed building City Hall as an addition to the building for $43.2 million.

The city vacated the old City Hall on Osceola Avenue in January 2019 in order to free it up for downtown waterfront redevelopment. For the past four and a half years, about five city departments have worked out of a sixth-floor office space in One Clearwater Tower at 600 Cleveland St.

City Council meetings have been conducted at the Main Library.

Demolition work on the old City Hall began in December but is not yet completed due to asbestos being discovered on an interior wall, according to Joe DeCicco, senior environmental specialist.

On Thursday, the council voted to increase its demolition contract with Biltmore Construction from $557,693 to $810,237 for the asbestos removal as well as excavation and disposal of foundation piles.