Bureau of Reclamation building new office in Boulder City

By Jean Reid Norman

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | 5:49 p.m.

The Bureau of Reclamation will get a $13.5 million new office building at its Date Street Complex in Boulder City as part of a $108 million stimulus package for projects in its Lower Colorado Region.

The 27,000-square-foot, single-story building will be energy efficient and designed to fit into the city’s historic district, Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Bob Walsh said.

It is one of six major projects announced today using stimulus money in the bureau’s Lower Colorado Region, which includes Nevada, Arizona and California.

The new building will house 100 to 110 people, most from the Boulder Canyon Operations Office, the water operations group that used to occupy the historic Date Street 100 building, which formerly housed the Bureau of Mines, Walsh said.

The employees moved into temporary offices in December 2006 so the 9,600-square-foot historic building could be renovated. During the work, lead paint, asbestos and structural deficiencies were discovered. The building was gutted to its bare walls, and the Bureau of Reclamation is now working with the state Historical Preservation Office to come up with a new plan for the building.

That work will continue, Walsh said.

The new building will go up on a vacant lot near the fence line behind Albertson’s, Walsh said. He expected an environmental study and historic preservation hearings to be held this summer so a contract can be awarded in the fall for a single firm to design and build the structure.

Construction is scheduled to begin by early 2010, with the building expected to be ready for occupancy a year later, he said.

The new building will allow the Bureau of Reclamation to consolidate its employees at two sites: the Date Street Complex and its headquarters building on Park Street, Walsh said. Currently, employees are also in leased space on Railroad Avenue and at Western Area Power Administration offices on Buchanan Boulevard, he said.

More importantly, Walsh said, the project will provide jobs in Boulder City.

“It will put people to work,” he said. “That’s the idea. This will do that for the economy.”

The building will be designed to meet U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a Bureau of Reclamation announcement said. Plans are to try to include solar panels to provide power for the building and others in the complex.