[URBAN NOTE] "York Region headquarters comes with hefty price tag"

[rfmcdonald]

Noor Javed's Toronto Star article makes for me a compelling case that York Region actually needs this construction project.

After years of planning, York Region is moving ahead with plans for a new $212-million headquarters — a price tag some residents are calling “enormous.”

The eight-storey, 422,000-square-foot building will connect with the current regional government headquarters in Newmarket. When it opens in 2020, the building will offer a range of services, including Ontario Works, housing services and provincial courts, according to Dino Basso, the commissioner of corporate services.

“The main building, which we call the annex, is a public facing community health and services building,” said Basso. “It is consolidating a number of programs that are currently being delivered in other locations in the area,” he said.

Last month, council awarded a $172,084,354, construction contract to EllisDon Corporation, one of the last steps in a planning process that began a decade ago.

According to a business case presented to council in 2013, staff said the building was needed for the expansion of the provincial courts, a need to “centralize” services and give the administration room to grow. The current building, constructed in 1994, houses more than 1,000 staff, more than it was meant for. Staff also found that by getting out of current leases of buildings where the services are being offered, the region could save between $26 million and $60 million over a 30-year period.