The City of Gilroy received $1.935 million thanks to a
settlement with the architecture firm that designed its police
station.
The City of Gilroy received $1.935 million thanks to a settlement with the architecture firm that designed its police station.
On Jan. 11, the council approved accepting a settlement in a suit against Rancho Cucamonga-based WLC Architects. The settlement money will go back into the city’s public facilities’ fund, City Administrator Tom Haglund said.
“It’s certainly nice to get this off the plate,” he said.
Estimated construction costs for the police station soared from $17.8 to $26.7 million before the council decided to build a cheaper version. However, even the cheaper version ballooned to about $27 million by the project’s finish.
Construction was delayed by about a year, and project contractor S.J. Amoroso had previously said delays stemmed from defective plans from WLC Architects. The city reached a separate settlement with Amoroso soon after the police station was built in 2007.
The city also had problems with WLC Architects severely understimating the cost of initial plans for the police station. However, that matter was unrelated to the suit.
Although a settlement agreement was put on the record in court on Jan. 8, the agreement has yet to be signed by all parties, said Andy Faber, an attorney for Berliner-Cohen, which represents the city. However, he expected the parties would sign the agreement soon.
