Mike Wolanin | The Republic An exterior view of the building that will become the new Columbus Department of Public Works facility off Arcadia Drive in Columbus, Ind., Monday, April 14, 2025.
Columbus City Council members have finalized funding up to $1.8 million for a number of building improvements to the future home of the Department of Public Works, including a roof replacement and IT infrastructure improvements.
The council voted 8-0 to back a request from the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to release up to $1.8 million of central tax-increment financing (TIF) funds that will go towards the removal and replacement of rooftop units, the installation of commercial fans inside the warehouse, a complete rewiring of the IT infrastructure and the replacement of the roof at 1350 Arcadia Drive.
The council had to consider the request because it’s a city expenditure greater than $500,000. Councilman Jerone Wood, D-District 3, was absent.
During a redevelopment commission meeting on Aug. 18, members gave approval to release up to $2 million in funding for the same purpose, with the understanding that they would reconvene to get more information in a later meeting to determine whether to get a single-ply roof, or more-expensive multi-ply version from The Garland Company.
The funding request was reduced a bit during a redevelopment meeting on Sept. 15 after city officials asked Garland to reach out to suppliers to obtain a more refined expectation of bidder response, Director of Redevelopment Heather Pope said in a memo.
Garland is the product provider so the roof installation will still need to be bid out. The company has a couple of local contractors certified to install their product, a Garland representative said.
The multi-ply version from Garland would save roughly $300,000 in maintenance cost over 30 years, according to an analysis presented by Jason Larrison of J.S. Held, a consultant for redevelopment.
The new department of public works building is expected to be complete in April or May of 2026, according to city officials.
Director of Public Works Bryan Burton has illustrated in city meetings over the course of last year-plus how his department has significantly outgrown capacity at the current city facility at 2250 Kreutzer Drive where it has operated for more than 50 years. He has stated the facility is maxed out on electrical capacity, lacks enough parking and office space for employees and has insufficient storage.
The new location is twice the size and will include a 15,000 square-foot building addition for maintenance, a 10,000 square-foot covered storage building addition and a nearly 2,000 square-foot addition for a wash building. It’s set to have a maintenance area with 10 service bays, two underground fuel tanks and will be able to house significantly more vehicles.
When the building was purchased, city officials knew the roof would need to be replaced within three to five years, Burton said, but increasing leaks led to the commissioning of a thermal imaging scan in July that showed what was described as “an abundance” of wet insulation.
Regarding the IT infrastructure, city officials said they didn’t know the extent of what would need to be installed until they began working on the building in earnest. Wiring in the facility was either missing or damaged while the previous owner — Yinlun TDI, LLC — was decommissioning the space. But the building was also vandalized and wiring was pulled from conduits and walls, city officials said.
Because of that, included in the $300,000 budget for IT upgrades are security sensors to prevent future vandalism.
Jim Hartsook, the city’s director of IT, said “there’s no low-voltage cabling in the building any longer,” calling the IT work “a complete rewire.” He also pointed out that the $300,000 figure is more of a “spitball, worst case scenario” and that it’s likely the IT infrastructure work will cost less.
Burton said the rooftop units and roof replacement were items they knew would need to be replaced in the near-term, while he said the commercial fans and IT infrastructure needs were discovered following the purchase when contractors began to get into the walls.
The following is a breakdown of the funding request:
- IT wiring and devices: $300,000
- HVAC unit replacement: $207,211
- Ceiling fans: $98,570
- Roof replacement: $1.2 million
The council in September 2024 backed redevelopment’s expenditure of about $8.7 million to buy and retrofit the former data center building. The agreement for the property itself was for $2.6 million. The cost to retrofit it was estimated by Force Design to cost about $6.1 million.
Last November, the council approved additional funding to go towards a new salt barn on the property for an amount not to exceed $3.7 million. All in all with the latest additions, the cost of the new building could land upwards of $14.2 million once construction is finished, assuming no other change orders.
