Despite poor weather conditions over the past months, Alexandria’s new city hall construction is progressing.
Last November, the City of Alexandria started constructing a new municipal complex on Constable Drive off US-27. The complex will feature a new headquarters for the city police, a community center with a two-story gym, a running track and city offices.
The front of the campus will face Constable Drive, while the back will face US-27. Cincinnati-based Pepper Construction is the project’s general contractor.
Alexandria purchased the nearly 100-acre site from the Schneider family, who had owned the land since 1908. Alexandria officials believe the city has outgrown its current building, the former Main Street Baptist Church located at 8236 W. Main St.
At a meeting on May 15, City Administrator David Plummer updated the council on the project’s status, saying that construction workers had started pouring concrete on certain portions of the site. Rainy weather hampered construction progress throughout early spring.
“Work resumed a little bit, they did get a small concrete pour in the other day, and what they can’t do, necessarily, on the building pad, they’ve been able to find work for the other places to do outside of the building profile area,” Plummer said.
Regarding complaints about the construction, councilmember Robert Strong invited neighboring residents to stop by the site or call the city to solve the problem.
“I know we’ve had a few neighbors stop in with some complaints,” Strong said. “I just want to say to the neighbors in that area that if you have a complaint, feel free to stop at the trailer and talk to them or call up here, and we will take care of it.”
Due to active construction, Constable Drive has experienced dusty roads brought on by dirt-moving vehicles. Strong said the city has sent out a street sweeper to clean the roads and will do so again if need be.
Plummer also updated the council regarding the general obligation bonds issued by the city to finance part of the project. On March 20, Alexandria approved $15,000,000 of bonds through the Kentucky League of Cities to help finance the project.
LINK nky previously reported that the project’s total cost is approximately $23 million. The budget includes over $1 million for design contingencies and around $985,000 for construction contingencies. This means that these funds are not specifically assigned to any particular item.
Plummer said the city’s municipal advisors are looking for the bonds to be sold by June 4.
“The real only question we have to do then is decide where we want the bond proceeds to sit,” Plummer said.
Alexandria and its advisors are considering using a national institution, such as BNY Mellon, or a local financial institution. Interest rates are a primary consideration for the city.
“We want to maximize our return,” Plummer said.
