3 Beverly City Hall Renovation Plans Proposed To City Council

BEVERLY, MA — Boston-based Feingold Alexander Architects, the architecture firm tabbed with the design and oversight of construction of Beverly City Hall's first major renovation in more than 100 years, presented the three general design plans being considered to the City Council on Tuesday night.

The major difference between the plans is the extent to which the current police station is retained or completely rebuilt with Feingold representatives telling the Council that a determination on which path to take was the next step in developing a schematic design, cost estimates and beginning the project that was targeted to start next year and include the relocation of all municipal services during the 12 to 24 months of renovations.

The three plans provided were the ones that Feingold representatives have presented during a series of public meetings and include one where the police building is largely maintained and renovated, one where the foundation of that building is maintained and one where the building is largely completely reconstructed.

Representatives said the third plan — or so-called Plan 2B — would lead to the most efficiencies and could ultimately be the less expensive of the three.

Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill told the Council that the City Hall renovations are necessary to bring many departments that have been scattered throughout the city back to the same space while making utilities — such as the HVAC system that does not exist on the first and second floors of the current City Hall while needing an overhaul on the third — more user- and climate-friendly.

All three plans would increase the size of the overall building to include more employees and reduce parking.

"We have never had enough parking and won won't when we're done," Cahill said. "Overwhelmingly, people don't want to lose green space (next door to City Hall) for the sake of a few parking spaces."

Cahill said off-campus parking options will continue to be explored.

City Councilor Matthew St. Hilaire noted that $25 million had been earmarked for the renovation with city Finance Director Bryant Ayles saying: "We still think that's a reasonable target."

Designers said the building renovation would be done with a planned 80-year lifespan before the next major renovation would be necessary.

The City Council last month voted to approve the use of $2 million in free cash and $6 million on borrowing for the friendly eminent domain taking of the property at 218-226 Cabot Street and 8 Chapman Street to serve as a temporary home for Beverly City Hall offices during the two-year
renovation, the preservation of more than 100 downtown parking spaces, and to halt to a planned five-story, a 113-unit housing complex, in exchange for a preferred mixed-used commercial and affordable housing plan when the renovation is complete and the city no longer needs the property.

Cahill framed that purchase as way to secure the temporary City Hall space without having to pay rent to a commercial building for two years and provide the framework for the preference for a "right-sized" housing development that could include closer to 50 units at 50 or 60 percent of market rate.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)