Atherton Town Center - Project Activity
Steel!
Work continues with a focus on the City Hall Building as steel is erected and the structure begins to go vertical. Work continues on the Rammed Earth Wall mock-up to test its design and constructibility. Electrical and mechanical work continues in the under slab of the Library Building. The Police Department Ancillary Building gets ledgers for decking. Communication conduits are run throughout the site.
Live webcams for Library and City Hall/PD Building are active on the Town’s website. There is also a project progress photo gallery.
Naming and Donation Opportunities
The City Council recently sent a Naming and Donation Opportunities letter to all Atherton residents. The letter should be mailed early next week. The Council invites the community to become a part of Atherton’s history. The new Town Center Project is by far the largest undertaking in the Town’s 97-year history and as you can see below it is well underway! The Council identified 20 unique Naming Opportunities connected to the project. Donations would assist the Town in reducing or eliminating the need for short-term financing to bridge the revenue flow gap during construction. The opportunities for naming have various ranges with the most significant being the ability to name the new road that will connect Fair Oaks Lane to Ashfield Road and run next to the new Town Center.
It is very exciting to see this long-awaited new Town Center and Library come to life. The projected opening is Fall 2021. For more details on naming opportunities and donations and how to enhance your current donation or become a part of history by making a new one, visit the donation website.
City Hall and Police Building
The photo to the right is an image from January looking across the City Hall and Police Building toward the location for the new Police Ancillary Building in their Secure Parking Lot - toward Caltrain.
The single-story, concrete masonry unit (CMU) building will be used to store:
- Stolen Evidence/Vehicles
- Property Storage
- Fleet Maintenance
- Police Motorcycles
- Special Operations/Emergency Equipment
- Emergency Generator & Power Equipment
The image to the right is from today as steel work continues on the City Hall Building. A construction crane pulls the steel up and around the building as crews set it to build the frame of the building. The contractor has been authorized to request work variances for hours in order to move the steel work forward quickly. A work variance has been approved for Saturday, February 29 to work from 9 am to 5 pm. Ingress and egress for Saturday is restricted to Fair Oaks Lane. The contractor will be providing neighborhood notices. Work is limited to steel installation.
Below is a Site Plan for the full project. 
Historic Town Hall
Most of the interior work of the Historic Town Hall building is further down in the project timeline. Currently the contractor is removing exterior plaster around the windows for new window installation and demolishing the interior subfloors an walls.
Work is also being prepared to seismically retrofit the building.
This building will ultimately become a part of the new Library connected via a deck and french doors that spill out from the side of the building onto the new deck.
Library Building
Most of the work this week the under slab electrical and rammed earth wall mock-up. Work will continue on the communication conduits for the building and move into the under slab foam and underfloor electrical.
Rammed earth walls provide better thermal protection by absorbing or slowing down the passage of heat through the material. On average, a rammed earth wall will help regulate the building’s interior temperatures improving its energy performance. In addition, the rammed earth wall will have sound reverberation characteristics that will improve sound insulation from passing trains.
The image below is the similar view from February 2020. Most of the current work is focused on the City Hall Building.
Site Work
Site work this week finished up connections for storm drains and water lines.
Here’s a view of the new entrance to City Hall coming in off of Fair Oaks Lane. Administration Offices are on the right. The first floor will be Town Administration and the Post Office. The second floor is the Building, Planning, and Public Works Departments. The bottom and top floors on the left are the Police Department. Secure Parking Lot entry is off to the left of the main building.
The Look AheadWork Areas for the Week of March 2- Installation of Fire Service Line and Water Line - All Buildings
- Erection of Structural Steel - City Hall Building
- Installation of Electrical to POC - Library
- Installation of communication conduits to Town Hall - Library
- Underslab Mechanical - Ancillary Building
- Installation of Ledgers - Ancillary Building
Work Areas for the Week of March 9
- Erection of Structural Steel - City Hall Building
- Finish communication conduits to Town Hall - Library
- Install Underslab Foam - Library
- Install Underfloor Electrical - Library
- Installation of Ledgers - Ancillary Building
- Set Structural Steel - Ancillary Building
Project Financials| Payment Request | Period | Town Share | Library Share | Total |
| Payment Request #1 | June 2019 | $983,533 | $538,622 | $1,522,155 |
| Payment Request #2 | July 2019 | $540,673 | $587,037 | $1,127,711 |
| Payment Request #3 | August 2019 | $605,478 | $972,754 | $1,578,232 |
| Payment Request #4 | September 2019 | $997,235 | $638,317 | $1,635,551 |
| Payment Request #5 | October 2019 | $969,456 | $252,633 | $1,222,089 |
| Payment Request #6 | November 2019 | $1,318,002 | $341,692 | $1,659,694 |
| Payment Request #7 | December 2019 | $1,346,738 | $555,978 | $1,902,716 |
Payment Request #8
| January 2020
| $1,289,498 | $480,925 | $1,770,423 |
| Totals | | $8,050,613 | $4,367,958 | $12,418,572 |
| | | | | |
| Initial Project Bid | | $28,701,034 | $18,375,966 | $47,077,000 |
| Net Change Orders | | $41,532 | $73,410 | $114,952 |
| Updated Project Cost | | $28,742,566 | $18,449,376 | $47,191,942 |
| % Complete based on $ | | 28% | 24% | 26% |
| Target Based on 25-Month Schedule | | 32% |
At 26% completion, change orders for the project are at 0.2% - $114,952 of $47.1 million.
George Rodericks
City Manager
grodericks@ci.atherton.ca.us