At tonight’s meeting, the Council will take additional actions related to the proposed City Hall project – mainly on contract services.

The additional money ( up to $87,000) will allow the City to better negotiate with the University about the joint development and will also allow the design team to find ways to reduce cost. Here are the items the Council will consider approving at tonight’s meeting.

19-G-99 Contract with HR & A for real estate consulting services
The Council will consider awarding a three-year extension to the on-call consulting agreement with HR & A for on-call economic development advisory services. is currently working with City staff regarding negotiations with the University of Maryland to finalize the development agreement (HR & A Task #3). HR & A has developed valuation models to assist the City in negotiations with the University regarding the land, parking garage, and share of the building costs. The negotiations may conclude after August 2019, and the City wants to ensure that HR & A will be able to assist the City until these negotiations are concluded. In addition, the City would like to keep HR & A as on-call consultants when the City needs economic development advisory services in the future on other projects.
19-G-104 Approval of HR&A consulting services in an amount not to exceed $45,000.
The Council will consider approving the payment of up to $45,000 for HR & A assistance with negotiations on the City Hall development agreement with the University of Maryland. HR & A is currently assisting City staff to negotiate with the University of Maryland to finalize the City Hall project development agreement. HR & A has developed valuation models to assist the City in negotiations with the University regarding the land, parking garage, and share of the building costs.
19-G-100 Approval of a change order for the additional design modifications to reduce the size of the City Hall / UMD office space:
The Council will consider approving the payment of $42,000 to Design Collective, Inc. to modify the schematic design plans. Design Collective developed schematic plans based on the programming needs for the City office space, the Council chambers, the University office space, and the retail space. Davis Construction (the Construction Manager at Risk) used these schematic plans to obtain more accurate cost estimates for the proposed building, and the estimates exceeded the 2018 cost estimates for the project. During the April 16, 2019 Council Worksession, the project team presented the schematic plans and possible steps to reduce the size and cost of the project. Council was supportive of pursuing these changes in order to reduce the cost.