City Council members decided that putting a second floor on the proposed new Stryker Center is not something the city will look at in future building plans, and materials from the current Stryker Building might be replicated on the proposed new construction.
A recent part of the conversation has been about whether to add a second floor to the building, and if the second floor should have commercial space the city could lease to businesses. City Council met on Friday to talk with Tom Tingle, President of Geurnsey Tingle Architects and real estate company RJS Associates, Inc.’s owner Bob Singley about plans for the future Stryker Center. Singley spoke to the council about the cost of leasing second-floor commercial.
After the first the first year of leasing the space, Singley said, the city would be down $14,000. It would take 6 years before Williamsburg would break even on the space. The project would account for an extra 35 people in the buildings after the space was rented, a number that Haulman didn’t think was worth adding to the project the $2 million it would take to build the second story — Freiling didn’t like the idea either, especially since much of the second floor would initially sit vacant.
“I’m not a fan of creating the environment where we don’t have use for the space,” Freiling said.
While Haulman, Freiling and Councilwoman Judy Knudson did not support the idea, Councilmen Doug Pons and Scott Foster showed support for it.
Pons, who’s come out as a clear supporter of the second floor and commercial space, said bringing businesses to the building would be part of a synergy that would build activity in the downtown area. Foster said that the extra space could save the town some trouble, and possibly some money, for future growth.
“I don’t think anyone is going to change their mind,” Foster said.
More details surfaced about what the outside of the building would look like, with many council members preferring the idea of putting a new spin on the look of the current Stryker building.”Traditional materials with a modern spin” was also a common theme in the discussion.
Mayor Haulman later asked Tingle to put together bullet points about what the council discussed, a document that is set to circulate to council members by the end of the week. For now, a few common themes in Monday’s meeting might point to what will be on the list:
- Brick is a preferred building material
- Some concrete edging is preferred
- The possibility of using some slate was also pointed to
- Pons and Foster both liked less geometrically shaped brick
- Haulman wanted a building that was inviting and gave a “warm and fuzzy” feeling
- Lots of glass was a common topic, as it was at the city’s Sept. 7 retreat
- A clear entrance was a must among council
In February, the city accepted an unsolicited bid from Guernsey Tingle Architects and local construction group Henderson, Inc. to build a new structure on the site of the current Stryker Center. The new building would serve as city meeting space and an expansion of the Williamsburg Regional Library that is now experiencing difficulty having enough space to accommodate all requests to book events with the library.
Along with the bid of 14,351 square feet for almost $5 million from Henderson/Tingle — the most expensive bid per square foot — two others are now being considered:
- 14,794 square feet for $4.8 million from contractor Daniel & Company, Inc. and architect groups David Stemann Architect LLC and Edwin J. Pease Architect
- 12,942 square feet for $4.3 million from contractor W.M. Jordan and architect group Hopke and Associates
At the council’s Sept. 12 meeting, members decided they would consult with the Guernsey Tingle Architects — the group recommended by the city — to further refine what they want from the building. The council will then turn over the new and further refined requests to all three construction-architect groups, and all three groups will have a chance to redesign their proposals.
The city hopes to have a clearer vision of design guidelines by the end of the week — no action is yet planned.
