Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale City Hall ‘On Life Support' After Extensive Flooding Damage: Officials

The costs to keep the building operational were estimated to be around $175,000 per day, which was deemed to be "neither practical nor sustainable," city officials said

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Fort Lauderdale City Hall suffered such extensive damage in last week’s flooding that it may need to be replaced, city manager Greg Chavarria said Wednesday.

Fort Lauderdale City Hall suffered such extensive damage in last week's flooding that it may need to be replaced, officials said Wednesday.

The city hall building at 100 N. Andrews Avenue remained closed Wednesday, a week after historic rainfall amounts caused extensive damage to the electrical and HVAC systems, city officials said in a news release.

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The costs to keep the building operational were estimated to be around $175,000 per day, which was deemed to be "neither practical nor sustainable," the release said.

"The building is on life support right now," city manager Greg Chavarria told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.

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Chavarria said the building's basement was inundated with eight feet of water, which destroyed much of the mechanical and electrical equipment.

NBC6's Marissa Bagg has more on the efforts to recover after some areas were heavily damaged by the storms.

The building's air conditioning was on, but the temperature couldn't be changed so it was stuck on full blast.

He said they were looking at using temporary office space elsewhere while the building's damage is assessed.

"We're looking at making a thorough assessment of the building and looking at what it would cost to restore. At the moment I'll tell you that it's not looking so well to restore the building," Chavarria said. "It may not be feasible to restore this building."

Chavarria said the building, which was built in the 1960s, has antiquated infrastructure.

Mayor Dean Trantalis said the city had already been contemplating moving to a new city hall in the past several years.

"We need to finally take some action on a new city hall," Trantalis said. "The reality is that we have a building that is functionally unusable."

The city's utility billing services were also down, and the city was not able to accept payments online. Late payment fees will be waived due to the service disruption, officials said.

Officials said Wednesday night’s Planning and Zoning Board meeting will proceed as planned at 6 p.m. in the Commission Chamber.

City Hall will be open to anyone wishing to attend the board meeting, but Trantalis said anyone attending should bring cold weather clothing since the a/c was keeping things chilly.

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