Lexington city leaders are asking for proposals regarding a new City Hall. The Urban County Council Thursday moved ahead with a request for proposals motion. Vice Mayor Dan Wu said it’s an effort to move forward and look for new space. He said it’s not about focusing on only one site.
“It’s wide open in the sense that it’s an open RFP process, but the realities of the market, there’s a limited number of options for what we’re trying to do, which is relocate a lot of people and a lot of real estate, so I think our options will be limited, but we’ll see what happens,” said Wu.
Wu said putting out the call for proposals doesn’t positively close the door to renovating the current City Hall on Main Street.
“Not necessarily. I don’t think at this point anything is ruled out. We’re just trying to figure out…for me personally…the three considerations are cost, how much time the project will take, and then how much disruption to services. So, it’s kind of a balancing act between those three elements,” said Wu.
The discussion about building a new city hall, relocating within an existing structure, or fixing up the former Lafayette Hotel has been a topic for years. The upkeep of the current city hall has carried a significant price tag.
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