Projects on the horizon
A large portion of West University Place’s capital improvement plan is the facilities master plan, which will add, renovate, expand and relocate key city buildings.
Project details
Cost
Construction timeline
Construction
Design Permit
= $1M
2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
1 New public works campus
$10.65M
Housing the administration, nance, human resources, community development, police and IT departments, City Hall renovations are expected to expand space for personnel. The department will relocate from City Hall to a new station at Milton and Auden streets. The two-story building will provide more room and easier street access for emergency vehicles. Moving from their location along Auden Street, the new buildings will move between Milton and Amherst streets on the east side of College Street and create greater capacity for the facilities. Public works maintenance and operations buildings are relocating from Amherst Street to a new site, which will allow ease of movement for city vehicles and a central location for the department.
1
BISSONNET ST.
2 New community center/senior center/library
$10.72M
UNIVERSITY BLVD.
3 New re department building
$11.07M
RICE BLVD.
3
BELLAIRE BLVD.
MILTON ST.
2
AMHERST ST.
4
4 City Hall renovations
$5.53M
SOURCES: PGAL, CITY OF WEST UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
N
CONTINUED FROM 1
department from Amherst Street. The city plans to move the depart- ment, which includes the Building and Standards, Recycling and Solid Waste Reduction, and Zoning and Plan- ning boards, to a 21,000-square-foot property at Westpark Drive and Dican Street, in the city of Houston, just north of West University’s city boundaries, and a separate animal services facility. The city itself is 2 square miles, much of which is built out. However, the city owns land outside its limits that can give public works its own space, Beach said. “It allows for operational e -
out of the City Hall building to its own two-story site on the corner of Milton and Auden streets. The last project, renovations to City Hall, is expected to cost $5.53 million. The building, constructed in 1954, was last renovated in 2014. While the design of the new public works campus is underway, construc- tion on the community and senior center, the library and the new re station as well as City Hall renovations are unlikely to meet the outlined time frame, Beach said. Construction on the new library and senior center is expected to begin in early 2024, the new re station in early 2025 and City Hall in spring 2026. Following town hall discussions in April, one of the city’s goals for the new facilities became the pursuit of a stron- ger environmental goals. On July 11, PGAL CEO Je Gerber went over the necessary design criteria to meet environmental goals, includ- ing reducing energy use; increasing renewable energy use; recycling con- struction waste; and benchmarking water, greenhouse gas emissions and waste materials. “Council’s acceptance of the master plan is not a carte blanche authoriza- tion to move forward with it, but it tells us what their plan is,” Beach said.
summer 2023 and summer 2024. Future projects Another portion of the plan focuses on renovations of the city’s municipal building and the construction of new facilities. The city’s community and senior cen- ter, which provides auditorium rentals and activity space to adults age 55 and older, is the oldest of the four buildings in the plan, having been erected in 1941. The city plans to spend $10.72 million to relocate the building between Mil-
various projects, including street and road paving, and water line replacements. The facilities plan is projected to cost the city about $38 million over the next ve years, and construction is expected to take place between sum- mer 2023 and early 2027, according to prerequisite material supplied by West University Place. “Completion of the facilities master plan was approved as a top policy pri- ority by council for this year in order to develop a long-term plan for the location and function of city facilities,” Beach’s assistant Will Thompson said during a June 27 council meeting. Key focuses of the plan involve ren- ovations to City Hall, which houses the IT, nance, human resources, commu- nications and police departments; relo- cating the public works facilities; and relocating the West University Branch Library and the city’s community and senior center. While all of these spaces have been renovated in the last 20 years, the aver- age age of these facilities is 62 years, according to city documents. “The demands of services have changed over the years, but the facil- ities are constrained in the ways that they can grow,” Beach said. Public works campus The rst project to be carried out is the relocation of the city’s public works
ton and Amherst streets along Col- lege Street. Additionally, the city is planning to relocate the West University Branch Library to the same prop- erty. However, City Council has not yet decided whether the
THE PROPOSED PLANS THEY HAVE GIVEN US ARE ABSOLUTELY EXCITING CHANGES. JOHN HARBAUGH, WEST
ciency from just the facility itself,” he said. “You’re creating more of a central hub.” Design rm Pierce Goodwin Alexander & Lin- ville presented two options for
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BRANCH MANAGER
library and senior center will be built as one multipurpose center, Beach said. “This is something we are certainly excited about, having more room for our collection,” said John Harbaugh, branch manager of West University Library. “The proposed plans they have given us are absolutely exciting changes.” Meanwhile, the city will spend $11.07 million to relocate the re department
the public works campus: One would work with land the city already owns, and another would expand the cam- pus by purchasing more property along Wakeforest Avenue. The second option leaves room for a potential stormwater detention pond along Dican Street. This section of the $10.65 million project is subject to permit approval by the city of Houston. Construction is expected to take place between
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