Napa (CA)’s Aging City-Owned Buildings to Prompt Discussion of Possible Replacements

Edward Booth
Napa Valley Register, Calif.
(TNS)

Mar. 25—Three years ago, in January 2020, the city of Napa was well on its way to constructing replacements for its aging downtown offices and public safety hubs.

That plan — approved by the the Napa City Council 4-1 — involved building an entirely new city hall, firehouse and downtown police station on the same city-owned block where the current buildings are, at an estimated cost of $124 million. There were still several difficult steps before construction could start, such as building design and figuring out how the city would finance the construction. But the basic plan, after several years of work and controversy, was in place, and the city was ready to move forward.

No such forward movement has happened since then. The COVID-19 pandemic arrived just two months after that City Council approval, and staff were thrust into more pressing matters, such as deciding how to make steep budget cuts as they grappled with the abrupt halt of Napa’s tourism industry and the related downturn in tax revenues.

As a result, the building replacement project was put on hold. Any lingering possibility of it being realized faded in March 2021, when the city announced they and Los Angeles-based Plenary Group — the infrastructure investment business that had worked with the city on the project since 2017 — had parted ways.

But now, three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, it won’t be long before the Napa City Council begins to consider potential ways to pursue building replacements once again. The city’s downtown buildings have only continued to age, and the cost to maintain them has only increased with time.

The maintenance costs of the city’s downtown buildings are also significantly higher than they would’ve been had the city not deferred maintenance about 10 years ago when the project for a new city hall was being planned, according to Public Works Director Julie Lucido.

Indeed, the City Council in January recognized the need to respond to the city’s decaying buildings sooner rather than later by making public infrastructure a focus area during the development of the city’s upcoming two-year budget, set to be discussed by the council in June. (The infrastructure category, along with buildings, also includes city streets, sidewalks and other capital improvement projects.)

“When it comes to our buildings, these are 60-year-old buildings,” said Councilmember Liz Alessio at the time. “They don’t meet the needs of our workers of today. We’re going to be homeless as a work force if we have another disaster, another earthquake or something.”

Much of the immediate focus will be on repairing major problems with the city’s current buildings so they’re still usable, according to Lucido.

Proposed work plans will focus on critical facility repairs — such as “failing roofs and electrical systems, repairs to building exteriors and parking structures, and upgrades to security and access,” she said in an email.

“There will be essential repairs to the buildings downtown to ensure we’re able to continue to occupy them,” Lucido wrote. “An example is the need to address roofs on the community services building and city hall to keep water out. There is more need than funding that is available.”

But, Lucido also said that, regardless of the repair efforts, the city will need to figure out future solutions — which will include discussions about potentially replacing the downtown city buildings.

“The city-owned buildings downtown are not suitable to meet the city’s needs into the future due to their age and condition,” Lucido wrote. “A comprehensive solution to replace the city buildings or take on major renewal of the existing buildings is a necessity. Work to advance planning efforts to address these deficiencies will be part of the budget proposal.”

The city’s aging downtown core continues to grow costlier

City-owned buildings in the core of downtown Napa have an average age of over 60 years old; Napa City Hall was built over 70 years ago. And the city pays millions of dollars each year to maintain them.

Lucido last year presented the City Council with the results of a city Facility Condition and Assessment Report, which was carried out to identify needed repair work on a broad scale.

Conducted through visual review and review of building records, the report at the time projected that maintenance costs for all 23 city-owned buildings — and four radio towers — over the next 15 years will be about $65 million, adding up to about $4.3 million per year. When expanded to cover 30 years, the report projects the cost goes up to $157 million, or about $5.2 million per year.

And when only considering the five downtown buildings — including Napa City Hall, the downtown fire station, the police department, the community services building and the housing and fire administration building — the costs add up to $31 million over 15 years and $65 million over 30 years.

But Lucido also noted in an email that the assessments typically can’t capture the full complexity of work that’s required to repair the old buildings — which means the estimates generally understate the true cost of repairs.

As an example, she noted that the assessment estimated a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system replacement on the police department building would cost roughly $750,000. But later work determined the replacement would actually cost about $3 million, which made the investment impractical for the city.

“In lieu of the full system replacement, we are replacing some of the heating and cooling components and increasing the service to address the system,” Lucido wrote. “But this is not a long term solution, a major renewal project for the building or a replacement is necessary. The HVAC replacement would be a wasted investment at a point where there is a major renewal or replacement of the building.”

Another metric included in the report was the 10-year Facility Condition Assessment Index, a measure that’s used to project the need to replace buildings. The measure is calculated through a ratio of the cost to repair features of the building versus the cost to repair the full structure — a ratio of 30% or above signifies the end of a building’s serviceable life, according to Lucido.

Four of the five downtown buildings have passed that mark, and Napa City Hall was nearing it with a 27.7% ratio at the time of the report.

Owing to a lack of space in current buildings, the city also currently leases buildings for the city’s Human Resources Department and Utilities Department at a price of about $350,000 per year, according to Lucido.

Moving forward

When the City Council begins to review possible options to replace or renovate the downtown buildings, they’ll have the work Plenary Group produced during the years the replacement project was actively being worked on.

Lucido noted that the work identified “key project elements and space allocations to serve the community and employees.” That includes “general building layouts, size requirements, land surveys, utilities, parking demands, security needs, technology, design criteria for enriching the downtown character and possessing a civic character, etc.,” according to Lucido, which would be used for any planning work related to a solution to addressing the current buildings.

That plan had its critics. Mary Luros, the councilmember that opposed the approved replacement project in 2020, said in an email it was “overly complicated, disruptive, and too expensive.” But she added that it’s likely time for a fresh look at the project, “using the information that we already have, with the goal of keeping it as simple as possible and focusing solely on a city hall and police station.”

Luros added that some kind of solution — either committing to new buildings or renovating and addressing significant deferred maintenance — is needed, given that the city continues to have insufficient space for its employees, and that the buildings have reached the end of their useful lives.

But it’s important for the city to first address funding needs before the initial stages of any such project can begin, according to Luros.

“Whether we build new, renovate, or address deferred maintenance, we must first address funding needs, then we can get to the point of engaging and communicating with our employees and the community about possible paths forward,” Luros wrote.

Councilmember Liz Alessio echoed some of Luros’ comments; she noted that the previous plan was “very complicated and expensive” and said there will be significant building-related costs — whether from building maintenance or replacements — regardless of what direction the city takes.

“Thankfully, we can use the information we obtained to keep a new process less complicated and to reduce costs,” Alessio said. “The use of the existing information along with community and employee input will be critical when we decide to move forward.”

Mayor Scott Sedgley said the current state of the city’s buildings are a concern because “we don’t want to spend every penny we have on maintaining these buildings.”

He added that discussions about possibly replacing the buildings may start once the city basically sets its upcoming two-year budget and knows what it’s working with in terms of budget.

Sedgley also noted that new buildings could potentially make it so city buildings aren’t spread far apart, which he said would benefit both city staff and community members seeking city services. And he mentioned that council and city staff likely would want any new building to be in the core downtown area, so services remain close to where people live.

“It’s still a priority for staff and council to modernize their facilities, at a reasonable cost for the public,” Sedgley said. “We’re not looking to build any Taj Mahal. We just want a functional building to serve the needs of the community and our employees.”

The projected maintenance cost of Napa’s city-owned downtown buildings

City of Napa projected maintenance and repair cost of downtown buildings over 15 years.

City Hall: $5,600,000.

Community Services Building: $6,000,000

Fire Station 1: $7,000,000

Housing Building: $2,300,000

Police Department: $9,800,000

City of Napa projected maintenance and repair cost of downtown buildings over 30 years.

City Hall: $14,800,000

Community Services Building: $12,700,000

Fire Station 1: $11,400,000

Housing Building: $6,800,000

Police Department: $19,400,000

You can reach Edward Booth at 707-256-2213.

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