Cottonwood City Council approved a contract Aug. 2 with Phoenix-based LAST Architects to design the new City Hall in the building on 635 N. Main St.
The decision to move forward with the design comes nearly a year after Cottonwood purchased the building formerly known as Rough Cut in September.
The contract, which is not to exceed an approximate $1.3 million, was awarded to LAST after city staff found the company to be “the most qualified” of the four applicants that applied, which also included Architecture Works Green, DFDG and Smith Group.
“They were selected because they were the most qualified applicants who submitted [applications] in regards to their experience, their past work performance that they’ve done, working on city halls and like facilities,” Cottonwood Public Works Director David Hausaman said.
“We are ecstatic to be chosen to be your design architect for your new city hall,” said LAST principal and co-founder Brad Lane. “We come to you with many years of experience, many past projects and our past portfolios of successes at the civic and public realms. We are ready to get started on your project; it’s going to be an amazing facility.”
Hausaman stated that the contract is a full service agreement, which includes all construction plans and specifications for all building systems [as proposed prior to council’s approval], and is estimated to be completed within 51 weeks following the notice to proceed.
“The services include the following phases: Project administration and coordination, space planning and programming, conceptual design, schematic design, design, development, construction documents and specifications, construction administration and furniture, fixtures and equipment,” Hausaman said.
Prior to approval, Councilman Michael Mathews asked whether the amount awarded could potentially “come in less” than the amount stated on the contract, and whether the city would be billed for additional trips out by consultants that exceed the amount stated in the contract.
“For trips out, yes,” Lane stated. “Some of our sub-consultants do have limits on their travel. I don’t believe LAST has a limit on our travel per se.”
Will LAST exceed the contract amount, Lane asked. “No,” he said.
“The only provisions for that fee going up is if the scope of the work were to change; if you were to add or take away a part of the project, then yes, the fee could be reduced.”
Councilwoman Debbie Wilden asked Lane what the most closely-related project LAST has had to compare with Cottonwood’s new city hall.
“The city hall in Surprise would probably be the closest programatically [sic] to this project,” Lane said. “We are very familiar with working with projects of this scale, this size, this complexity of these budgets designed to last a very long time.”
“Having a centralized city hall will place all city administrative services under one roof and provide centralized customer service to the citizens of Cottonwood and allow various City departments to relocate out of Old Town,” a city document stated. “This work is budgeted in the capital improvements budget for Fiscal Year 2023, and may eventually be paid for with proceeds from the issuance of bonds.”
For more information, visit cottonwoodaz.gov.