A Senate panel launched discussion Monday of plans for renovating the long-neglected and largely vacant Docking State Office Building in downtown Topeka.
Proposed legislation would give Gov. Laura Kelly's administration the authority to strip the historic building down to its bottom three floors, then build three new ones — while also building a separate lab for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on a parking lot to the south.
A competing idea calls for the full renovation of the Docking building with the KDHE lab taking up the second and third floors. Both plans would cost about $155 million.
"We are just here to stand ready to execute on whatever the Legislature decides, but we do feel that both taking action on Docking as well as ensuring that there is a new state-of-the-art KDHE lab is in the best interest," said DeAngela Burns-Wallace, secretary of the Department of Administration.
A new KDHE lab would replace the more than 60-year-old facility at Forbes Field on the south side of Topeka. The facility is a former military hospital.
The KDHE lab is responsible for testing and confirming cases of the coronavirus in Kansas. In testimony prepared before the pandemic, KDHE secretary Lee Norman called the need for upgrades critical.
Sen. Marci Francisco, a Democrat from Lawrence, said "it is time for the Legislature to act."
"Now more than ever we need to provide more appropriate facilities for the work that our citizens are depending upon," Francisco said.
She said she favored restoration of the full Docking building. The overhaul would take 36 months, compared to 42 months for dismantling and rebuilding. Also, the full Docking building would offer more total office space than the downsized building and a separate KDHE lab combined.
Vince Frye, president of Downtown Topeka Inc., said maximizing the number of state employees who work in the Docking building would support investments made to provide restaurants, shopping and nightlife to the downtown area. He also urged the Legislature to minimize the impact on private offices where the state currently leases space.
"A balance can and should be struck between state utilization of owned and leased office spaces such that the downtown environment continues to thrive and serve as a valuable tool for recruiting state employees," Frye said.
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