CHANDLER: Cost-cutting doesn't do center justice

Mary Voelz Chandler

Published February 16, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size

More Art & Architecture

The Denver Justice Center has gone through its twists and turns, but one thing remains clear: If this city really wants people to believe this is an important building, it has to believe it, too.

That means looking at its long-term significance, not just the short-term reality - and doing something about it.

So it's been heartening to hear the mayor and public works representatives say they will try to restore about $2 million in materials and detailing to the $286.3 million courthouse and jail project on the edge of Civic Center.

You don't even need a calculator to do that math: It's less than 1 percent, and it's only the cream of the crop of a full $5.3 million in proposed cuts that set a community advisory committee on the warpath on Feb. 7.

At the first meeting of the group in months, architects for the courthouse, jail and plaza outlined numerous changes that reduced the quality of materials and the level of detailing in the project. It wasn't pretty, and there weren't even any dollar amounts attached, just "several million dollars."

Their complaints led to the withdrawal of a proposed ordinance from last Monday's Denver City Council meeting to add $20.8 million to the contract with Hensel Phelps Construction Co. to bring it to the guaranteed maximum price of $286.3 million. And they wanted to talk to the mayor.

Tempers had cooled by the time committee members met last Tuesday with Mayor John Hickenlooper, Public Works Department chief Bill Vidal and City Engineer Leslie Thomas. The "several million" was actually $5.3 million. Of that, the committee identified about $2 million of priority items to restore.

They're items that, taken one at a time, might not mean much. Combined, however, the cuts would produce a justice center complex much diminished in quality.

Sure, detailing on the walls that border the complex might not seem important, and concrete pavement rather than granite might seem, well, just fine. But if the city wants another plaza as dreary, lifeless and crude as that in front of the police building, why didn't someone say so at the beginning of all this? And the lobby of the jail is really its only public area; putting in flat ceilings rather than coffered ones might save $778,813, but a jail doesn't have to look like a jail.

After all, in lengthy public meetings in late 2004, the official word was that one way the bond issue would be sold to the public hinged on the promise of good design.

And removing elements from the west facade of the courthouse that produce a cohesive building and give it a presence when seen from Speer Boulevard is just counterproductive. There is no back wall on an important building.

So why did the city spend several thousand dollars to bring out-of-town experts here as a peer review panel to recommend improvements - including enlivening the west facade - if it doesn't mean anything at all?

The mayor said he'll look for money in old public works accounts, by making some phone calls and by suggesting some ideas such as people buying plaza pavers. He also said that perhaps the granite blocks RTD wants to pluck off the 16th Street Mall in favor of concrete could be used on the justice center plaza. But no one was in the mood for a joke.

Denver City Councilwoman Jeanne Robb said - echoing committee members - that "I can't emphasize enough, we are looking at a long-term project," and she wanted "to hear a real strong commitment to delivering a legacy project, not just a college try."

City Engineer Thomas said in an interview on Wednesday that when bid packages go out beginning in March the contested items will be included, and they'll consider how the market responds in terms of costs. "We've got to keep the project moving forward," she said.

And one of those items actually has structural significance: The northern part of the canopy on the west entry and the illuminated curtain wall blade there will affect construction of the west facade.

So those elements need to be addressed quickly. People will be looking for more money, and the ordinance to put more money in the construction contract will come up at this Tuesday's city council meeting; the advisory committee is scheduled to meet again March 6.

No one doubts that steel and concrete are among the materials that have gone crazy in terms of cost. And because of specific programming needs and security issues, it's not as if the buildings can be made smaller.

But to nickel and dime something to death when it's supposed to be a major city project? This makes no sense, now or for the future.

Chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677

What's at stake

A look at design items at issue in the Denver Justice Center:

* Plaza, landscaping elements: $935,713, including $108,842 to replace granite plaza pavers with colored concrete, $263,966 to replace stainless steel bollards with concrete bollards and $13,534 to delete horizontal reveal detailing from the wall around the complex.

* Courthouse: $1.1 million, including $274,853 to delete part of a canopy and an illuminated curtain wall blade from the west facade, $188,400 to replace the east entry canopy granite with aluminum panels and $255,783 to replace courtroom wood veneer walls with painted plaster walls.

* Jail: $3.2 million, including $283,549 to replace glass block with detention glazing at the recreation yards, $778,813 to simplify lobby and rotunda ceilings and $160,000 to change front entry doors from balanced to aluminum storefront.

* Total of items: $5.3 million (1.8 percent) out of a $286.3 million project.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News