City Unveils Master Plan for City Hall Campus
Council Members were briefed Tuesday on the recently completed master plan that redesigns the City Hall campus.
The study looked at forecasted building and space needs in five to seven years and a twenty year outlook.
“We felt like we needed a master plan for our facilities just like we have a master plan for other things,” City Manager Tom Hart said.
Andy White, Assistant to the City Manager, said the study evaluated the current City Hall complex that includes seven buildings in a four block area with 90 thousand square-feet of space. Some of the buildings are more than sixty-years old and have areas not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Excluded from the study were the Municipal Courts Building, Public Safety Training Center and the Housing office.
The plan calls for a new, three-story, City Hall in a redesigned, open campus with will give visitors “one awesome Uptown experience,” White said.
The proposed City Hall would double office space to 185 thousand square-feet, put city services in one building, be more convenient for customers and employees, provide more parking, and be more efficient. Included in the campus redesign is a new four bay fire station.
Although Grand Prairie is in better financial shape than many cities, there is no money available in the city’s budget to cover the $95 million to build the project, Hart said. “There is no funding I can envision anytime soon.”
But, with the plan he said, at least the city has a road map for twenty years ahead when the population is projected to soar to 250,000.
Pictures courtesy City of Grand Prairie
