The City of Union has taken the first step toward selecting an architectural firm for its new city building.
Brandstetter Carroll Inc. and Summit Architects and Engineers presented during Monday’s regular commission session.
“The original intention was to bring in one for this meeting and one for the caucus meeting, but since we’re not having a caucus meeting this month – we decided to bring them both in for this meeting,” Union Mayor Larry Solomon said.
Brandstetter Carroll Inc. was started in 1979 in Lexington, Kentucky, and has a staff of 85 people, with offices in Lexington, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denton, Texas and Norman, Oklahoma, Brandstetter Carroll Inc. Co-Founder Larry Brandstetter said.
“The specialties that we have have taken us to various places,” Brandstetter said. “We’re real interested in your project because I think this project can make a statement for the city, for Boone County, as well as Northern Kentucky.”
The firm has executed at least 150 projects involving city hall, city administration and police and fire department public venues, Brandstetter said.
“Our process is thorough and tested,” Brandstetter Carroll Inc. Executive Vice President, Creative Director Monica Sumner said. “We’ve utilized this process for a number of years and we focus on service delivery. You have constituents you serve, you have a community that you serve and every decision that you make when designing a new facility needs to be focused on will it help you deliver services.”
There are four steps to a public project, according to Brandstetter Carroll:
- Identify the need
- Develop a plan
- Build consensus
- Fund and implement
“These four steps must happen in that order,” Sumner said. “Our philosophy is that we’re here to support your interests. By getting to know you, having meetings with you, participating in events in your community, we try to give you advice that supports the needs of your community.”
Summit Architects and Engineers is a full-service architectural and engineering firm operating out of offices in Lexington and Pikeville, Kentucky, President and CEO Scott Noel said.
“We currently have 32 employees and more of a community and family more than anything,” Noel said. “We are in our 46th year and some of our employees have been with us for 43 years. That says a lot about how we treat our employees, the commitment we make to them and their families and, in turn, they provide us with the expertise that we need.”
Recommended project delivery, according to Summit, includes:
- Feasibility study of the proposed property
- Conducting staff interviews
- Preparing a schematic design
- Approving a realized budget and scope
- Conducting a minimum of three public forums
- Preparing design development phase drawings for owner review
The firm recently worked on site design for a new Elsmere city building, officials said.
“We had initially come through with a fairly modern idea for the building and worked through a number of the logistical issues,” Summit architect Charley Robinson said. “The city expressed a little more desire for a more refined look, less contemporary. So we went back to the drawing board and worked a design that’s kind of a blend. What your public is looking for is the bottom line.”
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