Meeting scheduled over Building 3 renovations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. After six years of delays, plans to renovate Capitol Complex Building 3 are gearing up again.

The Capitol Building Commission, which by law must approve any substantive changes to buildings or grounds on the campus, has scheduled a Dec. 10 meeting to review the latest plans for renovating the eight-story office building.

Department of Administration spokeswoman Diane Holley-Brown said she could not discuss the proposal in detail until the commission signs off on the plans.

Until we get Capitol Building Commission approval, were a little leery about providing much information, she said.

She said plans have also been submitted to the Historic Preservation Office, given the historic nature of the building, which opened in 1951 and was designed by Cass Gilbert Jr., namesake son of the famed architect who designed the Capitol.

Plans to renovate the building, commonly known as the DMV building for the agency that was long housed on the buildings first floor, have been in the works since 2008. However, it took longer than expected to relocate agencies housed in Building 3, which was finally vacated in December 2010.

Another setback came with the 2011 bid opening, with the low bidder coming in more than $6 million above the $27 million budgeted for the project.

In September, then-Administration Secretary Ross Taylor told legislators that a scaled-back redesign for Building 3 was 90 percent complete.

He said some features proposed in the 2011 plans had been eliminated to cut costs, including telepresence conference rooms with floor-to-ceiling video conference screens, and a full kitchen for hosting dinners and receptions in a proposed first-floor conference center.

Taylor said the planned tenant mix has also changed. Original plans called for moving staff offices for the state auditor and the state treasurer out of the Capitol.

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Meeting scheduled over Building 3 renovations