A new report, prepared by Deputy City Manager Terry Roberts, examined four downtown properties and a parking lot near the current City Hall as alternative sites and concluded that the current project at Fourth and Santa Clara streets, first approved in June 1997, remains the best option.
"After analyzing the potential sites thoroughly, staff is recommending that work proceed on the Fourth and Santa Clara Street site for the new Civic Center,'' the report said. "I'd like to know why that won't work.''
City leaders have been searching for an alternative to the currently overcrowded City Hall for more than half a decade. In 1996, San Jose voters approved an advisory measure, Measure I, which said that a downtown City Hall could be built only if it saves the city money by consolidating city offices and services and does not require additional taxes or taking money from other city programs.
San Jose's current civic building, opened in 1958, is located on the corner of First and Mission streets, approximately 1.5 miles north of the downtown core. It is too small, so the city leases approximately 300,000-sf of additional office space at various locations at an annual cost of $12 million.
At the direction of San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and several city council members, the staff charged with evaluating options assumed that any alternative would look substantially similar to the current project designed by Meier, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect best known for Los Angeles' Getty Center.
Supporters of the Meier project believe that the new City Hall needs to do more than just house city offices in the most cost-effective way.
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