PUBLIC WORKS/Las Vegas builds more City Hall offices, parking

Las Vegas has expanded its City Hall to include additional office space, a parking deck and a television studio. The $15 million expansion has consolidated more city agencies into one location and tripled the amount of parking available to employees and City Hall visitors.

Prior to the expansion project, the Department of Human Resources, the Office of Business Development and the Video Services section of the Office of Communications were located in separate outlying facilities. City officials wanted to bring those departments to City Hall to be in the same building as offices for the mayor, the city council and many other city departments. However, the 241,000-square-foot building had reached capacity, and parking was limited. “On big days, when we had council meetings or planning meetings, there was insufficient parking available,” says Jerry Walker, manager of the Streets and Sanitation Division.

In 1999, the city contracted with locally based Kittrell-Garlock & Associates Architecture to design the expansion. The architect’s plans called for the addition of more than 30,000 square feet to the original City Hall building, and for the construction of an adjacent parking garage and television studio. In 2000, Las Vegas contracted with locally based Korte-Bellew & Associates to serve as the general contractor, and construction began in early 2001.

Late last year, construction was completed, and the seven-story garage containing 641 parking spaces opened to both the public and to city employees. The facility includes 2,310 square feet of retail space that the city will rent out for revenue. Next to the garage is the city’s two-story, 7,750-square-foot television studio, which houses Video Services. The Department of Human Resources and the Office of Business Development occupy the addition to the City Hall building, and an enclosed, third-story pedestrian bridge connects the garage with the expanded City Hall.

The expansion has improved interaction between the newly located departments and the rest of the city government. “The expansion has just made things a lot easier. Now, instead of having to walk or drive several blocks away, you’re now talking about having to walk up or down a flight of stairs in most cases,” says Debby Ackerman, public information officer for the Departments of Public Works and Field Operations. “We’re definitely more efficient.”

The parking deck has made it easier for city employees to get to work, Walker says. “Before, they were scattered about at isolated parking lots, often four or five blocks away,” he says. “Now, they are all able to park in covered parking and access [City Hall] in just a couple hundred feet.”

The city converted a surface lot formerly used for City Hall parking into a small park featuring picnic tables and a fountain. The buildings that the departments vacated to move into City Hall will be used by other city departments, such as the Department of Detention and Enforcement, and the Metropolitan Police Department.