At last night’s Council meeting, the new City Hall architecture team presented a concept plan of the new City Hall building that will include University of Maryland offices in it.
Please see above a model of the proposed 3-D model the architecture team presented at the meeting.
According to the new design, there will be retail on the lower levels and University office space on the third and fourth levels. This option Increases the likelihood of cost savings due to shared use of common areas and mechanical requirements. The estimated cost figure will be known in early next year.
According to the current CIP budget, the cost of the City Hall project is estimated at $12.7 million. The project was estimated at around $8 million back in 2014, when the Knox Rd site.
Back in 2015, a concept design was presented with two buildings joined by a common atrium. Please see that design below.
At a recent north College Park community meeting with the City Hall architecture team, some residents questioned the size and the expected utilization of the new City Hall. Many residents in north College Park don’t attend Council meetings at the current Knox Road site, mainly because of the congested traffic on Route 1. It remains to be seen if that situation will change if the current building is taken down and a new one is built at the same location.
2015 City Hall Design