FURNITURE, from page 1 $1.2M needed in furniture
Even though it appears to be no more than a skeleton of a building, the city has approved nearly $1.2 million in furniture for the city’s new public safety building.
The Santa Monica City Council approved the purchase last week as part of the $66.1 million, 118,000-square-foot, four-story office building that will house the city’s police and fire departments headquarters, the jail, an emergency operations center and 100 spaces of underground parking.
Officials say construction is on schedule and should be complete by January 2003. And the interior should be ready for the police and fire departments to move in by March 2003.
“I think the really positive thing to say is that the building is now almost 60 percent complete,” said Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson. “The building is slated for completion and we’re making the final arrangements for it, so something that has taken many years to plan is finally coming to a completion.”
The project is 1 1/2 years behind schedule. The city council approved a financing plan in 1997 for the building that was supposed to cost $42.2 million and be complete by fall 2001.
However, construction bids came in far higher than what city officials expected. All bids were denied in May 2000 and the city entered into a “modified design-build” approach, where the contractor must pay for increases resulting from cost overruns.
“We don’t want to be prematurely self-praising,” said Councilman Richard Bloom. “There have been a lot of problems and a lot of issues but they have all been taken care of.”
The new “modular” office furniture will look similar to the fare commonly found in City Hall and at city offices stationed at the Santa Monica Airport. Most of the equipment consists of desks, chairs and other general office furniture.
Of all the bids the city received, Knoll, Inc. provided the lowest amount for the furniture.
“We went through a competitive process,” Anderson said. “Based on specifications provided, this firm was selected because it had the better price or, at least, the most competitive price.”
After all the years of planning, Bloom said he was happy to see some of the smaller items, like furniture coming up for approval because it means construction is coming to a close.
“Its a complex building process.” he said. “It’s very exciting that after all these years our police and fire departments will finally have a new home.
“Its way overdue,” he added.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 21, 2002. Read the original PDF.