Construction Ahead: St. Charles Municipal Center

The city is poised to begin a six-month exterior overhaul of the St. Charles Municipal Center that will include roof work, the refurbishment of a wall and the replacement of windows and some doors to keep the structure weather-tight.

The St. Charles City Council Government Services Committee recommended formal council approval of the $1.35 million contract for the work. City officials told the council the bid came in well under the $1.5 million estimated cost of the project.

The work, St. Charles Public Services Manager Peter Suhr told alderman, was recommended after a study last year of the building’s shell. The study, he said, revealed significant problems that need to be addressed to make the building weather-tight.

The City Council, in August 2012, gave the go-ahead to proceed with design of the repairs.

Much of those repairs are for the Municipal Center’s roof, said Suhr, and for the repair of the building’s brick facades along Riverside Avenue. Other work includes the replacement of windows in the old City Hall and annex, various door replacements, caulking, stone and marble repair, and other work.

“The general look and shape of the building will not change” as a result of the project, Suhr said, characterizing the work as a maintenance project.

Work on the project is expected to begin the week of May 6 and will take about six months, during which the “checkerboard” parking lot at the corner of Main Street and Riverside Avenue will be closed, as will the south entrance to the complex.

Visitors also should expect partial closures to the Municipal Center’s sidewalk and concrete plaza, and scaffolding will be erected outside the building for construction crews.

The work will have an impact on both RiverFest and Scarecrow Fest, but city officials said both festivals already are making adjustments.

City officials say they believe the repairs should provide a 15- to 25-year solution to some of the issues the aging building has been experiencing.

One issue: While the St. Charles Historic Commission has given a certificate of appropriateness for the renovation work, the commission had indicated it preferred that the city repair the brick on the Municipal Center’s east facade. Suhr pointed out to aldermen, however, that the analysis indicated about 40 percent of the bricks on that wall are failure. Repairing some bricks while replacing those that are not salvageable, he said, would cost the city about $20,000 more, and that some might find the result less aesthetically pleasing — a patchwork of restored and new brick.

Aldermen voted 7-0 to override the Historic Commission recommendation and to recommend formal City Council approval of the contract. Committee Chairman and 1^st Aldermen Dan Stellato recused himself from the discussion and vote; 4^th Ward Alderman Ed Bessner was absent.

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