The St. Louis County administration building needs to be updated by the end of 2027 to stay within Clayton city codes. It needs a fire suppression system or the county government must move out of the building. County Executive Sam Page said at a press conference Tuesday that the county council must act now to begin that process.
In 2015, the City of Clayton passed new fire codes that mandated large commercial buildings like the Lawrence K. Roos County Government Building to be equipped with a fire suppression system. Those buildings have until Dec. 31, 2027, to get up to code or face fines of $1,000 per day.
Page said the council has three options – come into compliance with the fire code by investing in a sprinkler system, lease a government space or construct a new administrative and public safety building.
“No action is not an option,” he said.
Page said after he came into office in 2019, he began to hold meetings with staff, the county council and consultants about the county government’s real estate plan. They made presentations to the council last March, May and July.
“We have not yet heard from the council on the path that they would like to take moving forward, but there are three basic choices,” he said.
In regard to retrofitting a sprinkler system, work around the 197,000-square-foot building would have to be done to remove asbestos, lead or mold that could potentially be found behind the walls or under sheetrock. It would also include removing contaminants from water leaks. This could cost about $175 million to complete.
“We would have a 54-year-old building, with $175 million investment, which is now compliant with our fire codes, but this would not be a building that is best suited for the workforce of the future, so we have to ask, ‘Is this throwing good money after bad?’”
The county council could also choose to lease space to include the offices that are inside the Roos Building and the St. Louis County police headquarters. The lease would be over a 20-year period and include the renovation of the space at an estimated $476 million.
However, at the end of the 20-year lease, the council would have to look for a new space to lease, which Page said is not favorable because the county would not have a building after two decades of leasing.
If the previous two options are not desirable to the council, they could choose to build a new public safety and administrative building. It would include police headquarters, a crime lab and government offices. Flexible services would be housed in a 20-year leased space in a mid-county satellite office. This plan would cost $562 million.
Consultants and staff recommend this option. However, if county voters approve this plan, they would see a property tax increase for the average household of $69 per year.
Page said in order to move this plan forward, the council would be on a tight deadline to be out of the building by Jan. 1, 2028.
“In the spring of 2024, we must hire bond counsel to put together the legalities and describe accurately the legal question to put this on the ballot for November of 2024,” Page said. “Unfortunately, the county council has not yet brought this up for a vote.”
Council members would also have to put out a request for proposal to broker a leased space while waiting on construction. It could take up to two years to find a space, remodel and move into the building.
“The decision needs to be made now if we're going to put this on the ballot for November,” he said. “It's just not responsible to put this on the ballot without moving forward with bond counsel and with appropriate time and adequate time to communicate with the voters.”
Republican Councilman Dennis Hancock said Page has not included him or other council members in conversations with decision-makers and consultants. He wants to see bids for a new fire suppression system before he makes a decision.
“The first thing we need to do is fix the immediate problem, and I don't think it's going to take us three years to put sprinklers in this building,” he said. “The infrastructure for the sprinklers is already here. It's just a matter of going up.”
Hancock said he is ultimately focused on the voters and not raising taxes for any administrative building measure that could take place in the coming years.
“We have to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.
Republican Councilman Mark Harder said he understands the needs of the building. He is not opposed to fixing water leaks, ridding the building of asbestos or replacing windows because of water penetration after the sprinkler system is installed. He said the costs could be budgeted over time.
“It will probably result in this building being shut down, so they can work floor by floor making that happen and we may have to rent some space while that happens,” he said. “Then we'd come back to this building. In my opinion, I think that should be better.”
Roos’ structural damage
In 2023, the county council appropriated $1.1 million to tackle building maintenance. The annual need for the building is about $4 million. Officials say the building is $42 million behind in deferred maintenance.
The Roos Building is facing structural damage or water damage on every floor. There are leaks in the ceilings with pipes draining into buckets on the eighth floor, and 50-year-old-plus air conditioning units are rusting. In the 1990s, steel beams were placed inside the walls of the top floor of the building to keep them from caving in. The bricks on the walls are now pulling away due to water leaks.
Recently, maintenance workers discovered inches-wide cracks in cinder blocks inside the ninth-floor closet, which workers say are most likely happening on other floors.
The county’s public works department is especially concerned about the puddling of water in the high-voltage electrical room. About two inches of water from Monday’s rainstorm is inside of the area. The electrical panels distribute power to the building, the county courthouse, the police headquarters and the county jail.
“It comes down to preventative maintenance and then money for routine maintenance,” said Stephanie Leon Streeter, director of the St. Louis County Department of Transportation and Public Works.
