San José
Starts Construction on
New Downtown Civic Center
San José, CA ---- Construction on the
new San José Civic Center began today with a ceremonial groundbreaking
near the center of where the new city hall rotunda will be located at
the downtown site on Fifth Street at Santa Clara Street.
Designed by internationally acclaimed architects Richard Meier &
Partners, the project includes an 18-story tower, one-stop service center,
and landmark dome in a broad civic plaza.
“This project will deliver major benefits for the people of San
José,” said Mayor Ron Gonzales. “It will improve public
service for our residents and businesses, it will save taxpayer dollars
through more efficient operations, and it will strengthen our community’s
pride at the heart of our city.”
At the stage inside the circle marked for the future rotunda, the mayor
was joined for the groundbreaking ceremony by members of the San José
City Council, as well as Michael Palladino from RMP and Pastor Jim Crawford
from San Jose First Methodist Church on East Santa Clara Street.
As a neighbor of the new civic center, Crawford has been involved in
the City’s extensive outreach efforts for site selection, planning
and project design over the past several years.
Notable buildings designed by Meier include the Getty Center in Los
Angeles, City Hall and Central Library in The Hague, and federal buildings
in Phoenix and Islip, New York.
Planning for the project began during Mayor Susan Hammer’s administration
in an effort to consolidate City offices into a central facility and reduce
the costs of leasing space for City employees.
In 1996, 61 percent of San José voters approved the concept of
relocating City Hall to a downtown location on the condition that it would
save money for the City by reducing lease costs of office space. The City’s
most recent financial analysis estimated the new civic center will result
in savings of at least $180 million from avoiding the cost of leasing
office space over the next 30 years.
The new civic center complex comprises 555,000 square feet of space
that will be sufficient to hold nearly 2000 City employees. The current
city hall complex at First and Mission streets, first built in 1958 and
expanded in 1975, now holds only 950 members of the City’s staff.
The project budget is $343 million, and it is scheduled to open for
public service in early 2005. Construction activity will occur during
regular working hours, with evening and weekend work scheduled only under
special circumstances.
Questions or concerns about construction should be directed to the San
José Customer Service Call Center at (408) 277-4000. A project
website soon will also include up-to-date reports, news and information
about construction activities, and it will be available through the city’s
main website: www.ci.san-jose.ca.us
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