BURBANK BUILDING'S COSTS SOAR STRUCTURE'S PRICE TAG CLIMBS $3.6 MILLION.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

BURBANK - Building a three-story structure to get city employees out of temporary trailers will cost $3.6 million more than the $24.5 million estimated cost for the project, officials said Tuesday.

The increase in the project budget comes after the building, approved in 2002, was put on hold in January 2003 because of state budget cuts. Since then, prices for steel, concrete, lumber, drywall and labor all have gone up.

``Right now, it seems like a lot of money. I know we need the new building, but it just seems very expensive,'' said City Councilwoman Stacey Murphy.

The Development and Community Services Building would be at Third Street and Orange Grove Avenue, on space now occupied by a parking lot. The building would cover nearly 72,400 square feet and house about 190 employees, providing work space for workers in the parks and recreation, public works, community development and public information divisions.

Many of those employees have been in former bank buildings and temporary trailers near City Hall for more than three years, since the 35-year-old Municipal Services Building was demolished because it was deemed seismically unsafe.

Since March, city officials have taken out $2.5 million worth of features from the proposed project to save money, and other cost-saving measures are under consideration. The city also could elect to not build the structure to meet the environmentally conscious standards of the U.S. Green Building Council, which would save $1.1 million.

But City Councilman Todd Campbell said the city should follow the group's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, which have been described as a way to save money on heating and lighting bills.

``The project as a LEED building would actually pay for itself several times over during the course of the building's life. And if we're going to build a project, I hope that we would build a project that would be part of Burbank's holdings for generations to come,'' Campbell said.

The building would provide the public with a one-stop building permit center and a community room. Long-range plans also call for a new central library, a six-story parking structure and a plaza to be built on the project site.

The City Council is expected to have its final say on the project in the spring. Construction could then begin in May and be completed in October 2006.

``It's going to be interesting to see if the prices kind of level off or if they continue to increase. And if they continue to increase that's ... bad news for us,'' Campbell said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com