Price for Revamping Old Thousand Oaks City Hall Soars

Renovating the southern half of the dilapidated “Eyebrows on the Hill,” the landmark former City Hall, is going to be far more costly than anticipated, according to a city report.

The lowest bid for improvements to prepare the south building for its new tenant, the National Park Service, came in at $1.89 million--$585,000 more than the $1.3 million Thousand Oaks officials had budgeted to complete the work.

The City Council must decide Tuesday whether to substantially increase the budget for the project or change it to seek cheaper alternatives. City officials are recommending the council reject all bids and solicit new ones.

If the council solicits new bids, Thousand Oaks officials will have to reopen negotiations with the park service because the building will not be ready for the agency in December, as the city’s lease states. The park service plans to use the building near The Oaks mall off Hillcrest Drive as the headquarters of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

“It’s disappointing that [the bids] came in that high,” Mayor Judy Lazar said. “I’m particularly disappointed that we won’t be able to accommodate the National Park Service on schedule. But we’re going to do our best under the circumstances. I think the city manager did the right thing by [not awarding] the bids.”

Councilwoman Linda Parks said she too is unhappy with the escalating cost of the project, adding that she cannot fathom how the city’s Colorado-based architectural consultant, Baker Hogan Houx, could have so badly misjudged the price tag. One reason, she said, is that too many frills were placed in the bid package, needlessly driving up the price.

“I am concerned with the cost, and part of it is that we’re doing more than renovating,” Parks said.

“I think we paid a consultant a lot of money to figure out how much this would cost, and the consultant was off--considerably off,” she added. “Maybe we should look at a different consultant.”

The consultant’s fee was $150,000.

City officials asked Baker Hogan Houx to compare the bid guidelines that went out to construction firms to explain why estimates are so much higher than expected.

The firm replied in an Aug. 28 letter that there had been a variety of items in the bid provisions that were not included in the consultant’s original building evaluation, such as $150,000 in reinforcements for an elevator shaft and walkway. In all, the improvements could have added about $943,800 to the project’s cost.

Moreover, the letter stated that because work for construction firms has picked up throughout Southern California, the project will probably cost more now. And because the bids state the work must be completed within 100 days, the going price will be high, the letter added.

Built in the early 1970s, the former City Hall buildings have been unused since 1988, when city officials moved out to have asbestos removed. City offices eventually relocated to the Civic Arts Plaza in 1994.

The old City Hall buildings were left vacant and soon became a sleeping site for vagrants as well as a party spot for teenagers. Over the years, windows were smashed, walls were scarred with graffiti and interiors were trashed and gutted. That angered many residents.

By letting the buildings go unused for so many years instead of leasing or selling the site, Thousand Oaks also lost out on a potential source of revenue, a bitter topic on the divided City Council.

Earlier this year, the council agreed to spruce up the smaller, 18,000-square-foot south building for the park service. The budget was estimated at $1.9 million, including $1.3 million for improvements, $400,000 as a tenant allowance and $150,000 for the consultant.

But now with the higher bids, that budget would exceed $2.6 if the council were to proceed without new bids. The money would be paid back through the park service’s $411,000-a-year rent.

Further complicating matters, Thousand Oaks leaders voted in July to fix up the larger half of the old City Hall complex, the 33,000-square-foot north building, so it too could be rented. Some council members are now wondering whether fixing the second building could also prove costlier than first thought.

“That’s something we’ll have to reexamine,” Lazar said.