Date remains fluid for Williamsburg Stryker building demolition

WILLIAMSBURG Demolition of the city's Stryker Building, in preparation for construction of a new building to house both City Council chambers and conference rooms and offices for the Williamsburg Library, is officially late.

Demolition had been scheduled to begin in September.

Last week City Manager Jack Tuttle said it was "day-to-day" on setting a firm start date for demolition.

The holdup is negotiation of the construction schedule between the building's architects David Stemann and Edwin Pease, and builder Daniel & Company.

"We only want to start work on the site one time," Tuttle said. "We don't want to do the demolition and then have to open the site again for construction.

Tuttle said that delays in doing the demolition work will put the project behind schedule.

"Fortunately, we can operate as we are now, with Council meeting in the Municipal Building, indefinitely," he said. "There's no firm deadline the building has to be finished by."

Nothing about replacing the vintage 1967 Stryker Building, formerly home to not only council chamber but to the Williamsburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the voter registrar's office, has come easy.

Following an unsolicited proposal to redesign or replace the building, City Council launched put our a request for proposals. But it didn't like any of the first proposals. It restarted the process and finally, after 10 months, chose the winning design a much more contemporary looking building than the present Stryker.

Council chose a design that called for the complete demolition of the building which has been plagued by mold problems rather than re-use of the building.

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Date remains fluid for Williamsburg Stryker building demolition