Hello and welcome to Episode Forty Five of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I'm your host, Hannah!
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The English Language Transcript can be found below
But as always we start with Reader's Advisory!
The Reader's Advisory for Episode Forty Five is My Summer of You by Nagisa Furuya. If you like the sound of My Summer of You you should also check out: I Hear a Sunspot Limit by Yuki Fumino, How Do We Relationship? by Tamifull, and Love*Com by Aya Nakahara.
No bonus segment this week as My Summer of You has not been added to any lists!!
Happy Reading Everyone
Today’s Library Tidbit is all about the City of Largo’s plans for a new city hall.
The City of Largo has been working towards a new city hall for a few years now. You may have even answered the community survey in 2020. A lot of thought and planning has gone into the new building, both behind the reasons why the City is building a new one and also how the new building will be designed and what functionality it will have.
The current and soon to be old city hall was built in 1973 and was built to the codes and work standards of the time. Not only have building codes upgraded significantly since 1973 but our work culture has also changed drastically. One of the City’s major concerns with the current and soon to be old city hall is that it is not up to hurricane or flood codes. It’s been pure luck that it has not suffered any major damage in a storm.
If the City decided to stay in the current and soon to be old city hall it was estimated to cost anywhere between $10-15 million dollars. This would bring the building up to code and also repair the A/C, heating, electrical, and plumbing problems the current building experiences. The cost of building a new building, parking garage, and retail spaces all together is estimated at $58 million dollars.
This is a significant difference, however, not only is the current soon to be old city hall in need of major repairs and in danger from hurricanes, it does not meet the needs of the City. The current building was originally built for a financial services organization and not as a city hall.
The new city hall will allow the City flexibility in work and meeting spaces and will have a built in ability to grow as needed, something the current soon to be old building lacks. The current soon to be old building is also sorely lacking in accessibility, something that is a priority in the planning of the new city hall. The City cannot truly meet the needs of the public unless the public can access the City.
Once the new city hall is finished the plot of land the current and soon to be old city hall is on, along with the parking lot, will be torn down and the plot sold to a private, probably residential developer. This not only will allow to more housing in Largo, but will also help to offset some of the costs of building the new city hall.
The current Police Department and Emergency Operations Center will be staying where they are on Highland behind the plot of land the current and soon to be old city hall stands on.
The new city hall is being designed and built by the firm ASD/SKY. I will link to their website here if you are interested in some of their projects, but most notable for our area this is the firm that built the new St. Pete pier. ASD/SKY was chosen not only for their modern and clean designs, but also because as a firm they are dedicated to sustainable and inclusive building practices.
To build the new city hall the City of Largo has purchased several plots of land on the 400 block of West Bay Dr. The City targeted this area for the new city hall as part of the City’s commitment to developing or revitalizing downtown Largo. The City has a vision for downtown Largo as a destination place for the public.
As such the new city hall will be a mixed-use building with open green spaces ...
