Norfolk Daily News

Saturday – February 23, 2008

Including partners in a new city hall on the Salvation Army parking lot would cost the City of Norfolk considerably more than just going it alone, according to an analysis by the city finance director.

The additional annual net cost to the city over 20 years would be $120,000 more a year than the cost to buy and remodel the Nebraska Health and Human Services building downtown just for city office space.

The city figures a two-story building with eight partner groups would cost an estimated $5.79 million, while buying and remodeling the state building would cost $2.17 million — a difference of $3.62 million.

When including projected lease payments by the partners to the city over 20 years, the city still would end up paying about $2.38 million more, according to the analysis.

A spokesman for the partners has estimated the cost of the shared building as high as $5.45 million and as low as $4.59 million, while the city’s estimate is higher at $5.79 million.

The city’s estimate includes the cost of additional parking across the street at the former KFC property, which the city says is needed because there wouldn’t be enough parking space left on the Salvation Army lot with the larger building, which would be almost twice as large as what the city needs by itself.

The break-even point would be lease payments of $23.28 per square foot, according to the city, which is about double the partners’ projected figure.