It’s your building. All six floors and 118,000 square feet, for which you are paying $18.5 million.
Vancouver will unveil its new City Hall on Saturday, throwing a party and an open house at the building located at the corner of Sixth and Esther streets downtown. Consider it a coming-out party, not only for the now-publicly owned building but for a new era in the city’s history.
While it is easy to question the wisdom of the city purchasing a new building in the midst of desperate economic times, everything about this move pencils out:
• The price tag is 44 percent below the appraised value of the structure. In the world of private business, many a fortune has been made by those who can afford to buy on the cheap during economic downturns.
• The move will allow the city to consolidate services that previously were spread over five locations. This not only is good for city workers and for the synergy of communication between departments, but it’s good for citizens who will benefit from one-stop shopping when it comes to doing business with the city.
• Consolidating from those multiple locations will save the city $1 million a year in rental costs.
• The fifth and sixth floors of the building are earmarked as office space to be leased out. Currently, that space yields about $500,000 a year.
The building originally was constructed by Downtown Vitality Partners, owned by Columbian publisher Scott Campbell and his family, as a home to the newspaper’s operations. But Campbell and The Columbian turned over ownership of the structure to Bank of America during bankruptcy proceedings and were not involved in the sale of the building to the city.
As Campbell said in 2010: “For the city to buy this building as a new City Hall is a great thing for this community and for taxpayers. … If the Campbell family had to take a loss like that, who better to have a gain than the public?”
That gain will be on display Saturday, as the city’s operations officially complete the move from a 44-year-old City Hall on 13th Street.
A recent article by Columbian reporter Paris Achen chronicled the final days of employees in the old building. The most interesting anecdotes: During a spate of growth for the city, a bank vault in the building was converted into a meeting room, and at one point some homeless people set up residence in a sealed tunnel that previously had been used to transport prisoners from the police station across the street.
Sounds as though it’s time for the city to move on, to open a new chapter and become part of a downtown revitalization that includes a renovated Esther Short Park across the street and a new library a few blocks away.
The strength of a city often can be measured by the vitality of its downtown. And despite the problems posed by the Great Recession, Vancouver’s downtown has managed to remain strong in recent years. It’s appropriate that the city’s government will be a part of that.
The official grand opening will be from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, with the dedication of the building scheduled for 12:30 p.m. There will be activities for children and planes on display from Pearson Air Museum and a flyover of vintage planes. And at 2 p.m., a 40-minute walking tour of previous City Hall sites will commence.
Given the fact that the move makes economic and logistical sense, it is easy to reach the conclusion that citizens will be well-served. And that is the ultimate benchmark when it comes to city government.
