Aurora looks at renovating fourth floor of City Hall

Aurora is looking at renovating the fourth floor of City Hall at a cost of around $660,000, officials announced at Monday’s City Council Infrastructure and Technology Committee meeting.

The purpose of the renovation is to finally bring together the full Finance Department on one floor, according to Aurora Chief Public Facilities Officer Jim Birchall.

He told the committee on Monday that the renovation would “demo everything” and rebuild from a “clean envelope,” including bringing in completely new furniture, redoing the bathrooms and upgrading the lighting to LEDs.

“I’m excited about this project because we’ve been wanting to do this for years,” Birchall said.

The Infrastructure and Technology Committee voted Monday to recommend the project to the full City Council.

According to the meeting’s agenda, the project would cost $659,674 with a 10% contingency. Birchall said the lowest bidder was selected, which was Lite Construction Inc.

Currently, the fourth floor’s offices are “hodgepodge,” with some being too big and some being too small, according to Birchall. The plan is to take down the walls and build back up six private offices and 14 cubicles, he said.

Unlike the current walls, the new walls would be soundproof, Birchall said.

In addition to remodeling the bathrooms on the fourth floor, the project would also bring bathrooms on the third and fifth floors up to the current building code, which requires floor drains, he said.

The heating and cooling system would be controlled by a rooftop unit dedicated to the fourth and fifth floors, so the temperature could be adjusted down when people are not in the offices to avoid heating a vacant space, Birchall said. The renovations would also help airflow within the fourth floor, he said.

Ald. John Laesch, at large, who was previously on the East Aurora School District Board of Education, said that Lite Construction previously did work with the school district and that they were good to work with, but he said they often had budget overruns. Birchall said his staff would ensure overruns do not happen and has a record of keeping projects within budget.

The city is also currently working with Lite Construction on a different project, the renovation of 745 Broadway, according to Birchall. Although they aren’t too deep into the project, he is happy with the work they are doing, he said.

Also, when they checked Lite’s references, some architecture firms that have worked with them in the past have been “very, very happy with them,” Birchall said.

rsmith@chicagotribune.com