Augusta Municipal Building remodeling moves forward

An $18 million remodeling job at Augusta’s Municipal Building that was held up by a lawsuit over the city's method of awarding construction contracts is moving forward.

The city's public services committee is expected today to approve again the selection of Turner Construction Co. as construction manager at-risk for the renovation and modernization project.

When the commission approved Turner last April, local builder John Z. Speer and the Augusta-Richmond County Property Owners Association filed suit, alleging the city's method of awarding the bid broke state and local laws. Chief Judge J. Carlisle Over­street agreed and issued an injunction that kept the project on hold.

Since then, Augusta has changed its code to allow the use of construction managers at-risk and rewritten the proposal to require the construction manager to obtain all materials and services by competitive bid. Overstreet lifted the injunction last month.

The renovations had been on hold until the new Augusta-Richmond County Judicial Building opened in May.

Since most of the county judiciary moved into the new courthouse, three of the Municipal Building’s nine floors have been vacant.

The $18 million project was included in the $184.7 million special purpose local option sales tax VI package approved by voters in 2009, according to Deputy Finance Director Tim Schroer.

The renovations will facilitate the eventual relocation of several
city offices, including the Law De­part­ment and Planning and De­velopment, to the Municipal Buil­ding, accor­ding to City Administrator Fred Russell.