Capitol's Building 3 renovations to be finished in late 2016

The latest estimates have set a late 2016 completion date for renovations to Capitol complex Building 3 or nearly 6 years after initial plans to reopen the eight-story office building.

Administration Secretary Ross Taylor told legislators Tuesday a redesign of the project is 90 percent complete, and should go out to bid early in 2015.

It will be scaled back some, but not as much as we thought, he said after the Council of Finance and Administration meeting.

Plans to renovate the circa 1951 building, informally known as the DMV building for its long-time first-floor occupant, have been on the drawing boards since 2008.

After it took much longer than anticipated to move state offices out of the building, a bid opening for the project in 2011 came in more than $6 million over the $27 million the state had budgeted.

After months on the back burner, Administration started a project redesign in January, to bring the renovation back within budget. That included eliminating planned telepresence teleconferencing rooms, with floor to ceiling video screens, as well as a kitchen intended to allow the building to be used to host dinners and receptions.

Taylor said that with the redesign, the mix of occupants for Building 3 has also changed.

The auditors and treasurers offices are not going in as originally planned, he said.

Instead, the latest plans call for moving Department of Commerce offices into the renovated office space.

The Division of Tourism is expected to move from current offices in South Charleston into the first floor of the building.

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Capitol's Building 3 renovations to be finished in late 2016