Thousand Oaks OKs $1.86-Million Budget to Renovate Old City Hall

City leaders knew it wasn’t going to be cheap.

So when Thousand Oaks officials presented the City Council with a construction budget that estimates the cost of repairing and remodeling part of the former city hall complex at $1.86 million--almost as much as the city can make leasing the building for five years--no one batted an eye.

Council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the budget for the long-fallow city hall’s south building, which will soon become the headquarters for the National Park Service’s Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Recently declared a cultural landmark by the City Council, the old city hall complex at 401 W. Hillcrest Drive--nicknamed the “eyebrows on the hill” because of the thin, trapezoidal shape of its two hillside buildings--has been empty for nine years. It became a magnet for vandals and squatters, who spray-painted the building, smashed many of its windows and caused considerable damage throughout its interior.

Thousand Oaks will now seek bids to perform the improvements, which will be paid for with money from the city’s general fund reserves. The money will then be reimbursed from the National Park Service’s five-year lease, which will pay Thousand Oaks $411,840 annually.

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With help from an architectural consultant, city officials had previously estimated that it would cost $1.2 million to upgrade the southern building.

The majority of the improvements suggested in a report by the consultant, Baker Hogan Houx, are necessary to bring the 24-year-old building up to government code and make it energy efficient.

Mayor Judy Lazar argued that the improvements needed to be made sooner or later anyway.

“Even if the [National Park Service] were to move out, we would have a fully improved building,” Lazar said.

City officials now project the overall cost to be $1.86 million, because it will include $150,000 for additional architectural and engineering consulting by Baker Hogan Houx, as well as a $400,000 tenant improvement allowance.

“Since $400,000 [for the tenant allowance] is part of the lease agreement, the actual cost for improving the building is actually around $1.4 million or $1.5 million,” said Assistant City Manager MaryJane Lazz.

The final cost, of course, could change depending on the bids Thousand Oaks receives to perform the work.

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The U.S. General Services Agency, which handles the leasing of buildings for federal government agencies such as the National Park Service, is coordinating its space plan with city officials and Baker Hogan Houx. Once the plan is completed and delivered to the city, Thousand Oaks must have the building ready for occupancy in 150 days, according to the lease.

The southern building is the smaller of the two “eyebrows.” It will provide the park service with 20,000 square feet of office space and 115 parking spaces for employees and visitors. The building will be expanded slightly to accommodate the National Park Service.

The existing headquarters of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which stretches from Point Mugu to the Hollywood Bowl, is in Agoura Hills.

Park service officials said that facility was too small for its 72 administrators, biologists and rangers, even though only about 30 to 40 of the employees actually spend time at the building on an average day.