Manzanita city staff and councilors gathered for a tour of the new city hall and police station construction site at the corner of Manzanita Avenue and Classic Street on November 14.

Jason Stegner, owner of Cove Built, the company constructing the facilities, led the tour and said that the project is on pace to open in late May 2025, as scheduled, with crews nearing completion on framing.

Framing began in early September and has been completed on the exterior of both buildings as well as on the interior of the smaller, police station building. Stegner said that he expects crews to complete framing the city hall structure by the end of November.

On a dry day in the first week of November, construction crews put temporary roofs on both roofs and will install a waterproofing layer in the coming weeks. The waterproofing layer can remain exposed to sunlight for several months without issue before metal roofing is installed, though Stegner said that he also hopes to have that installed by early December.

Following the completion of framing, crews will move on to installing windows and doorframes, which Stegner said should be complete by the middle of December and will make the project's interior dry. This will allow for the installation of electrical, mechanical units and sprinklers to begin in the second half of the month, with most of the work already complete on plumbing.

After about a month of work on utilities, a third-party contractor will review the work in late January, before sheet rock installation takes place in the first half of February, followed by painting and ceiling installations. March will see cabinet installation, with flooring added in April and May reserved for final details ahead of the project's completion.

Stegner said that the police station had been framed out first because of its smaller footprint and that it would probably also have exterior cladding installed first, for the same reason.

Crews have also mostly completed preparatory work on the parking lot at the west end of the facility and are working on roughing in the matching parking lot on the east end now, as weather permits. Stegner said that they hope to have sidewalks installed by April and to pave the lots in May.

Stegner said that in addition to being on schedule, the project is also within budget. The owner's contingency has been depleted on direct adds during the construction process, like the addition of solar paneling to the roof, but the contractors' contingency still has around $150,000 remaining, and Stegner said he was optimistic that he would be able to return some money to the city when the project is complete.

"So far, so good. There are always glitches, but the team's been working well together and there's a pretty minor list of questions out there and we're working through it," Stegner said.

Work on the project began this spring and once the new facility is complete, it will see city staff housed in one location, as opposed to their current placement between three different buildings across the city.

The new police station's foundation was built to withstand a maximum Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and will serve as the city's emergency operations center. The city hall will feature the council chamber, office space for the city's six staff, a conference room, several smaller meeting rooms, a secure garage for police use and three restrooms.