Lockport OKs nearly $2.5 million for City Hall renovation

Lockport — The city of Lockport is planning on making renovations to City Hall in the coming months.

The City Council voted March 19 to approve a contract for mechanical renovations to be completed on the Central Square City Hall building, 222 Ninth St., this summer and fall.

The council voted unanimously to approve a contract with Friedler Construction Co. in the amount of $2,498,800 to complete the work, which will include an entire replacement of the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

According to City Manager Ben Benson, the project, which was originally budgeted at $3,200,000, includes replacing the building’s heating, air condition, and ventilation systems and their controls over the course of two phases.

The project will also include some asbestos abatement, installation of a new fire alarm system, and minor repairs to some plumbing and electrical systems within the building and the roof.

In addition to the official bid amount, the city also approved up to $75,000 in contingency funds for the project in case additional lighting or plumbing work is found to be necessary once work begins, and to renovate the bathrooms on the third floor.

Benson explained that Phase I of the project will involve renovating the main building, which dates back over 120 years.

“We will need to close parts of the building and relocate some essential services for a month or two while that work is being done,” Benson said. “Key services like water bill payments and permits will likely be handled out of the gym, which won’t be worked on until Phase II.”

Phase II will include work on the gym and the rest of the building addition which was added in the 1950s.

Neither portion of the building has seen extensive work since the 1980s when the city took over the historic facility, which was formerly Lockport Central School.

Benson also noted that the City Council/Committee of the Whole and the Planning and Zoning Commission will have to relocate their meetings for a few months during construction, likely to Lockport Township High School or the Police Department’s Community Room.

“We will announce it closer to the time, but we will have to move the meetings into other locations in the community,” Benson said.

Construction for the project is slated to begin in August and last through November, with the more of the timeline likely to be spent on Phase I.

Even with the contingency funding, the project is still slated to come in over $626,000 under budget.

Benson noted that the “significant savings” could be used to install an emergency gas generator for the building, which would allow it to continue operating – or even serve as a warming center – in the event of severe weather and power outages.

“We didn’t know exactly what this was going to cost when we set up the budget,” Benson said. “We’re going to revisit the idea of a generator in the fall once we get more into this project and we know for sure what the final cost is going to be and that the fund will definitely be available.”