City Council set to take first step in potentially moving Pocatello City Hall
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POCATELLO – A historic building in Pocatello’s downtown area could be the future home of City Hall, depending on the results of an upcoming vote by the City Council.
Pocatello’s governing body plans to discuss this issue at its meeting on Thursday, May 7, at 7 p.m. Council members will then vote on whether to authorize a feasibility study on the potential transformation of the Federal Building at 150 S. Arthur Ave. into city offices.
The goal of this analysis, according to Planning and Development Director Brent McLane, is to help city leaders determine whether the building is a suitable home for city government.
“There’s so many questions, and that’s why we want to … get educated about whether this is even a project to move forward,” McLane said.
‘The Palace’ of downtown
The building, commonly referred to as the Old Federal Building, first opened its doors in 1916. It was designed by Pocatello-native Frank Paradice Jr. to serve the people of east Idaho as a federal courthouse and post office.
When construction was complete, “local newspapers referred to the building as ‘The Palace’ and hoped that it would be used for 200 years,” a document from the U.S. District Court’s website states.
According to that same document, the building was only used as a courthouse until 1977. But in the almost half a century since, the building has not been abandoned.
During a recent visit to the building, EastIdahoNews.com found entrances unlocked, with some offices inside occupied by tenants. A doorway on the first floor led past a couple of large, open rooms and eventually to the lobby area of the building’s front entrance.
A new City Hall?
The Federal Building is across the street from Simplot Square; Lookout Point is within that same city block as the square, and the Marshall Public Library is across the street from that.
In Pocatello’s 2022 Downtown Development Plan, these three blocks, along with the two others next to Lookout Point, are envisioned as being part of a larger city center that would also include new housing, an extension of the library, and recreation facilities.
But this is just a concept, and moving Pocatello’s government offices is not a done deal.
“It’s a good idea, but until we have all the ducks in a row, it’s hard to really say whether or not … it’s a reasonable idea,” said City Council President Corey Mangum.
The idea to move city government into the historic downtown district originated before the development plan was created, with documented discussions happening in 2018. Prior to that, Historic Downtown Pocatello Inc., an organization of downtown stakeholders, advocated for the idea.
Stephanie Palagi, president and CEO of the downtown organization, said it has been advocating for the relocation of City Hall for around 15 years.
“Downtowns are the home to city halls … and all of the amenities,” Palagi said. “Municipalities are usually located in a downtown area.”
Moving City Hall could generate over $1 million in consumer spending at businesses in the downtown area, according to an economic assessment provided in agenda item’s attached document.
While these estimates are not an overall evaluation of economic impact, Stantec Consulting Services — the company that conducted the analysis — used data from the International Council of Shopping Centers to estimate spending by city workers and employees at businesses near Pocatello’s current City Hall and at the proposed location.
Why move?
As of April 24, Mangum did not know how he would vote on in relation to the preliminary analysis. This is primarily because he didn’t know what the estimated costs were or where the funding would come from.
While the Council president agrees with conducting the study, in principle, he said he needed those questions answered first.
“That’s a conservative approach to managing the dollars of our constituents, and of the city,” Mangum said.
Even if the council votes not to move forward with the study, or move City Hall, there are still eventual costs associated with remaining in the current facility.
The building at 911 N. 7th Ave. became Pocatello City Hall in 1993, and it wasn’t intended to be a government building in the first place.
“The current space we’re in, it was intended to be a grocery store,” Mangum said.
According to the building’s description in the economic assessment, “the building was constructed more than 40 years ago as a single-story, large format retail property.”
Mangum said there are a number of air-conditioning “dead zones,” as well as some electrical and plumbing issues. To address the air conditioning issues, he said it would require an “overhaul” of the HVAC system.
“There’s just a lot of stuff that has to be looked at, to maintain and to keep that space adequate for the uses that it’s serving right now,” he said.
The proposed contract
City leaders have already chosen VCBO Architecture, an architectural firm based in Salt Lake City, to conduct the potential feasibility study. The firm’s proposal was one of 15 such proposals and was picked because it most demonstrated that it had the resources, experience, capacity and “philosophy of service” to accomplish the job, the decision summary states.
One of the primary things McLane says the feasibility study would with is in determining whether the Federal Building has the capacity to become City Hall.
Capacity is determined not just by the size of the building, but also by the cost to move and renovate, how it could affect traffic flow, and whether there’s enough parking to meet demand.
Before city leaders can discuss the price tag, McLane said this information would need to be gathered.
“It (would be) speculation at this point,” he said. “We’re not really sure what those actual costs might be. There’s so many questions.”
What isn’t a question, though, is how much the feasibility study itself would cost. According to Article 11 of the proposed contract, the lump sum fee for the study is $203,000.
If the City Council votes to approve the preliminary study, whether or not to move forward with the rest of the project would be determined by a separate vote. This vote would take place after the council reviewed the study’s findings and determined cost estimates.
McLane expects the preliminary study would take around six months to complete.
While the professional recommendation of the Planning and Development Department is to award the contract, the decision on whether to do so remains with the Council.
“This is the route we need to go to get solid information with a professional architectural firm who understands the costs of these buildings, who understands the construction process, and can really put together some solid numbers for us to really understand what we’re dealing with,” McLane said.
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