VIENNA, VA — In the first meeting of the Vienna City Council in over a month, a design contract for the renovation of the first floor of City Hall was approved, among other things.

The $337,500 contract with Dewberry Architects includes design and retrofit services for the first floor renovation. The renovation was initially identified as using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. According to the City Council’s project, the renovation project’s selection and eligibility for the American Rescue Plan Act was due to “poor layout of employee workstations, realignment of employee functions, and hiring of new employees such as the Economic Development Department added in 2019.”

After completing a feasibility study, the city council decided in February to only proceed with the renovation of the first floor for financial reasons.

“I would say that on the ground floor as a whole, according to the results of the feasibility study, we have a space deficit of about 20 percent with the current layout,” said Brad Baer, ​​head of Stadtwerke Wien. “But in some areas there are even larger space deficits. Nobody has more space than they need. Some people just have enough.”

Baer said “the intent of the project is to refresh and reconfigure the ground floor spaces” and there could be a building code review as well as electrical and mechanical changes. The city does not plan to update the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system or windows during the ground floor renovation. There will likely be a phased construction plan with alternate work locations, but Baer said the city will maintain continuity of services to the public on the ground floor.

The city issued a request for proposals and nine design firms submitted proposals. Three finalists interviewed and Dewberry was selected because its presentation and project team received the highest scores, Baer said.

The public works director said the entire project is budgeted at over $1 million, but he believes that is an underestimate.

“I think that’s low. That’s only $200 per square foot. We have about 5,000 square feet of employee space on the ground floor with 35 employees,” Baer said. “In my experience, renovation costs of this type are usually between $300 and $600, I’ve seen them for $750, but that required exterior repairs at the high end. So even at $300, that’s a $1.5 million renovation.”

According to Baer, ​​the design phase of the project could begin in September and last until spring.