November 14, 2019

Marysville could start new $60M civic campus next year

Image by DLR [enlarge]

The preferred option is a city hall and police/courts building attached to a separate jail by a sally port.

After more than a decade of planning, the city of Marysville is making progress on its $60 million plan for a new civic campus.

The city last week opened bids for the campus, with Lydig Construction of Bellevue as the lowest of five contractors seeking the work.

The project has two base bid options: one that includes space for a city hall and another that doesn't. Lydig was low on both, but still above the engineer's estimate. The Marysville City Council in December is expected to make a decision on whether to award a contract to Lydig.

Lydig bid $36.49 million for the scaled-down version, nearly $5 million above the engineer's estimate. Spee West Construction of Edmonds bid $37.1 million and Allied Construction Associates of Everett bid $37.97 million.

Lydig bid $43.59 million for the expanded version, about $1.35 million above the engineer's estimate. Spee West came in at $44.03 million and Allied Construction bid $44.96 million.

In the bid documents, the city indicated it will go with the expanded version if the bid fell within its budget, otherwise it will go with the scaled-down version if that bid fell within budget.

City officials said they prefer the expanded campus, which will have about 100,000 square feet in two buildings connected by a sally port. A four-story shelled-in city hall included in that proposal will be part of a two-story police/courts building that uses the sally port to access a separate jail building. There also will be space for the Community Development and Public Works Engineering departments.

The scaled-down version will be about 55,000 square feet and will rely on city hall staying put in its current location about four blocks away, at 1040 State Ave. It will consist of a police/courts building connected by a sally port to a separate jail.

Regardless of which option is picked, new buildings will have to be built on many piles and grade beams because of downtown Marysville's high water table.

The campus will be built on 4.54 acres that the city has bought in parcels over the years adjacent to Comeford Park. The buildings will face Delta Avenue, which will be turned into a woonerf between Fifth and Sixth streets. The woonerf will have bollards that identify travel lanes and parking for cars, street art, outdoor seating and activities, and landscaping that allows stormwater infiltration.

The building containing city hall and police/courts will be directly across from Comeford Park, while the jail will extend into the block between Sixth and Seventh streets. Parking will be provided behind the buildings, next to the BNSF Railway tracks, and to the north of the jail facing Delta Avenue and between Seventh and Eighth streets. Some additional parking will be south of city hall and police/courts, between Fourth and Fifth streets.

The new civic campus will consolidate operations located in different areas of the city.

Funding is coming from a criminal justice sales tax that was passed by voters last year, as well as the city's general fund and future sales of the properties where the city currently operates the departments moving to the new civic campus.

Construction is expected to start next year and the new campus will open in late 2021. City crews have been demolishing a few small buildings that were on the parcels slated for redevelopment.

Botesch, Nash & Hall Architects of Everett is the lead architect on the civic campus. DLR Group of Seattle assisted with programming, interior and jail design, as well as structural, mechanical and electrical engineering. Other design team members are: Harmsen, civil engineer; R&N Systems Design, security consultant; J.A. Brennan Associates, landscape architect; and Halliday Associates, kitchen and laundry consultant.