Savage Public Works Building Expansion 13770 Dakota Av. S., Savage
Type: Government Size of expansion: 23,843 feet Cost: $5.8 million
The city of Savage is moving forward with a planned $5.8 million renovation and expansion of its public works building.
At its Tuesday meeting, the Savage City Council approved issuing advertisements seeking construction bids for the project. DLR Group architects and civil engineers Bolton & Menk are the designers.
The project would see 23,842 square feet added to the 34,586-square-foot building, where the city stores and maintains its fleet of street sweepers, tankers, dump trucks and myriad other vehicles. City officials say its design is nearing completion.
The aim of the expansion is to integrate all of the growing city's public works facilities onto one site. Savage maintains a remote materials storage site, known as the city boneyard, at the Savage Industrial Center near the intersection of Hwy. 13 and 126th Street.
The expansion project addresses a long-term goal to eliminate the need for the city-owned, multi-tenant office building in the industrial park and get it back onto tax rolls with a new, private owner, said Savage City Administrator Barry Stock.
The city hopes to select the winning bid by its Feb. 21 council meeting, during which the project's final site and building plans are to be considered.
The oldest section of the current building dates back to 1988, with a significant expansion performed in 1993. Some additional office space was built in 2001 to meet the growing needs of the Scott County community.
"Probably the biggest impact for the public works staff will be the modernization of the mechanics' bays," Stock said. "We have a pretty large fleet, and we save quite a bit of money having them repaired in-house. Our mechanics have been working with 1988 technology on these vehicles."
Don Jacobson is a freelance writer based in St. Paul. He can be reached at hotproperty.startribune@ gmail.com.
