County to consider contract to finish renovating former IRS building

Sedgwick County is close to completing its move into the former IRS building in downtown Wichita.

The county’s bid board recommended approving a $1.3 million contract with Key Construction for renovations to the Ronald Reagan Building at 271 W. Third St.

The project would renovate the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the six-story building.

County purchasing agent Kim Bush said the appraiser’s office, the Department of Aging, Geographic Information Services and Comcare’s administration “will be moving their operations into the building after renovation work is complete.”

Commissioners amended their capital improvement program in November to renovate the top half of the building for more departments. The top three floors would have the same carpet and finish as the bottom three floors.

Tania Cole, Project Services Program manager, said the county would save on leases for its aging, appraiser’s and Comcare offices. Moving GIS out of the courthouse would give the district attorney’s office more space.

A divided county commission bought the building in 2014 for $4.9 million. It was commonly called the 271 building for its address before commissioners renamed it after the 40th president.

Some commissioners said renovating the building would cost too much, prompting searches for other buildings for county departments and the possibility of the county trading the building.

Commissioners cleared the way in November 2015 to begin the move into the building. City and county officials held a grand opening last October when the first three floors opened to the public.

The first floor houses the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department, where builders can submit building plans. Two organizations – the Metropolitan Area Planning Department and Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization – are on the second floor. And the construction department’s inspectors work on the third floor.

Commissioner Michael O’Donnell said he didn’t want to “opine” on the purchase of the building and the political fights since. But he said he was glad owning the building would save money by avoiding leases.

“I do know having a building just a couple blocks away from the courthouse that houses all these county departments is a very good thing for the taxpayer and just streamlining government,” O’Donnell said. “We need to maximize every square foot at the Ronald Reagan building.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 6:45 PM with the headline "County to consider contract to finish renovating former IRS building."