City Seeks New Office Space in Downtown Nanaimo
CITY OF NANAIMO NEWS RELEASE
Monday, 07 June 2010
City Seeks New Office Space in Downtown Nanaimo
The City of Nanaimo is seeking “Expressions of Interest” for alternative office space in downtown Nanaimo to accommodate City Staff currently housed in the City Hall Annex.
Through the Expression of Interest process, the City is requesting proposals from building owners and developers to provide 40,000 sq ft to 45,000 sq ft of office space in downtown Nanaimo. The City is seeking proposals that would include options for replacement of the City Hall Annex and may include purchase, lease or lease to own either an existing office building or a design/build of a new office building on City or privately owned land.
The City is looking for new office space, as the current seismic design of the City Hall Annex is significantly deficient. The costs associated with making the necessary seismic upgrades are such that alternative premises are being sought to evaluate alternatives which are the most cost effective.
The Expression of Interest will be advertised in various news media and electronic formats, and will seek formal submissions by the end of July. Once submissions are received, they will be reviewed by Staff and forwarded to Council in August for its consideration. The Expression of Interest document will be available on the City’s website by 2010-Jun-15. Questions regarding the Expression of Interest can be directed to Kurtis Felker, Manager, Purchasing & Stores (kurtis.felker@nanaimo.ca)
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
It should be noted that the city owns a new structure downtown which could supply this space and still have room for conferences commensurate with our demonstrated needs.
My thoughts exactly. Why rent, when we already own more space then we know what to do with.
Good point for sure. A very cold objective appraisal of the use of th e VICC should be undertaken.
If we’re replacing the annex we should stop and turn our gaze westward behind City Hall. Quennell Square (Urban Design Guidelines p 35) is a site prime for redevelopment that would be the envy of any small city in the country. There’s a lot of public sector property ownership there now. Federal, provincial and the City. We need to learn a lesson being learned elsewhere: the days of the large stand alone project are over. How can a project like replacing the annex build neighbourhood? How can it be the catalyst for achieving some of our longer term development goals? How does it meet at the table other players: other levels of government, the SFN, and the private sector?
If they do decide to build, I hope their cost per square foot is a whole lot better than the VICC.
They claim it would take $6 million worth of lipstick to make the present facility safe (whatever that is). If they undertake to build 40,000 square feet, I shudder to think what that might cost.
How many square feet is the VICC??
Here is another idea. Barring the use of the Convention Centre, build it at Port Place Mall and put low cost housing, something economically attainable, on top of it.
Gord — The model you suggest is being used successfully elsewhere. The big institutional players, the municipality, the university are the catalyst for renewal in an inner city neighbourhood.
Gord: Please start a conversation on affordable housing. Does it mean that housing is built with lot,dwelling sizes and finishing which is commensurate with people’s ability to pay, or does it mean subsidized housing? This will be an increasingly important issue.
Anytime anyone advocates that government should build ‘low cost’ anything, as a taxpayer I just cringe!
You can not put ‘low cost’ and government in the same sentence and have any credibility.
Last year government built homes for people with challenges on the corner of Meredith and Bowen Road.
The people being housed there could have been given condos which were twice the size and on the market in Nanaimo for HALF of the cost to build those ones!
Government doesn’t have to build it. What they do have to do is to develop lot size and building practices which allow for lower cost housing to be built. The city has gone part way with this in allowing “coach” houses to be built. I am not sure whether other demands of the codes make the cost of building “reasonable”. I do think we need a discussion of this issue. We already permit secondary suites as well as coach houses. What have these innovations done to improve our affordable housing situation and why or why not?
As “low cost” housing has been discussed by some of you in this conversation, here is a link to a News Release, issued today, June 15th, by the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, “$36.5M SUPPORTIVE HOUSING INVESTMENT CREATES 227 JOBS” … for Nanaimo.
http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2009-2013/2010HSD0059-000705.htm
Jim referred to the new units at the corner of Bowen Rd. and Meredith … 2104 Bowen Road … Note from the News Release that the provincial government’s contribution to this particular 20 unit complex was $1,700,000. I recall that the City contributed the land, (and maybe more), for the project.
Janet
At the time the project was opened it was reported to have been built for a total of $4,600,000.00.