Del Mar

Nationally renowned New York City architect Robert Stern has been hired to design a $4.7-million community center.

The City Council voted unanimously last week to select Stern over three local architectural concerns vying to design the 25,000-square-foot center downtown.

The complex at 11th Street and Camino del Mar will house a new City Council chambers, administration offices, cable television studio and library.

Stern, a professor of architecture at Columbia University, hosted the 1986 public television series on architecture called “Pride of Place.” He is known for creating buildings that pick up on the architectural heritage of their settings.