The Centre City Development Corp. issued a request today asking for developers to submit proposals to build a new City Hall complex downtown.
Mayor Jerry Sanders has sought to redevelop City Hall, which is too small to fit all of the city’s employees. More than 3,000 workers are scattered in leased spaces throughout downtown, which costs the city $13.5 million annually.
The city aims to let a private developer build condos or mixed-use buildings on some of the four-block downtown space, leasing the ground underneath the buildings from the city for at least 60 years. In exchange, the developer will build and help finance the new City Hall. The public-private partnership could resemble the Navy Broadway Complex or the Chargers’ designs for a new stadium.
Kelly Bennett wrote about the phenomenon here, and Scott Lewis coined it the “swapsidy.”
The site includes City Hall, the Development Services Center, City Concourse Building, Civic Theater and Evan Jones Parkade.
CCDC says the project will only move forward if it would reduce the city’s operational and capital costs.
Responses are due Oct. 12.