'We're to the fun part': Docking building demolition is over and new construction begins

After a long and difficult process — for politicians and construction workers — the rebuild of the Docking State Office Building is underway.

"I thought this day would never come ... after decades of stops and starts, we can finally celebrate the reincarnation of the Robert J. Docking State Office Building," said Gov. Laura Kelly.

"I've lived in Topeka for a very long time, and I know how iconic the Docking State Office Building has been to the city," she said. "The structure that came down just two months ago had accumulated decades of history and memories shared by thousands of state employees."

Kelly and other dignitaries on Monday met on the southwest lawn of the Kansas Statehouse, where they signed beams that will later be installed toward the top of the new building. Once complete next spring, the modern building will have an exhibition space, cafe, gym, health clinic and event center in addition to offices for state employees.

"The Docking family is honored to have what will be this beautiful repurposed building on the state Capitol campus named after our family," said Brian Docking, grandson of former Gov. Robert Docking, whom the building was named after, and great-grandson of former Gov. George Docking. "For generations, we've appreciated the work and dedication of Kansans who labor to serve our government and their constituents."

With demolition completed safely, now comes 'the fun part'

"We got the new construction underway," said Andy Buessing, president of Hutton, the construction company leading the project. "The most challenging part is finished. Whenever you finish a demo job, everybody breathes a sigh of relief. But now we're to the fun part."

Buessing said it was a challenge to safely deconstruct a 12-story building while maintaining operations of the boilers and chillers that serve the rest of the Capitol complex. There were zero accidents during the demolition, he said.

Adam Proffitt, secretary of the Kansas Department of Administration, praised the construction crew.

"I've witnessed firsthand out of my two offices the miserable conditions under which the crew has worked over the past couple of weeks," he said, referring to the blustery cold and snowy weather. "But never did they stop, never did they deter and they finished the deconstruction on time."

Hutton is partnering with Washburn Tech, so construction students can learn through the project.

"Not only are we building a new building," Buessing said, "but we're also building up Kansas and hopefully bringing more people into the construction trades industry."

More: What will downtown Topeka's new Docking State Office Building look like? Here are the renderings

Here's how the old building will live on in new Docking

Proffitt said limestone was sent to Arkansas City while marble and granite were sent to St. Marys to be cleaned and resized for reuse.

"One of the goals that was established early on was to recycle, reuse and repurpose as many of the materials as possible," Buessing said. "I'm really shocked, we were able to repurpose 98% of the materials on this project. That includes the steel, the marble, the granite, the aluminum, some of the glass has been ground up and used in the terrazzo flooring, so the Docking building will continue to live in the new Docking building."

More: After Docking demolition rubble was dumped in Kansas River, here's what the state says

Demolition and rebuild were political — and remain so

It had long been debated whether the structure should be renovated or rebuilt, and the decision to tear it down and rebuild faced a legal challenge from a historic preservation group.

Proffitt thanked legislators for their support and made a joke about the difficult process by which they settled on what to do with the building.

"I know sometimes there might have been disagreements on some of the minor details — like the timing, the design, the location, the funding, the height, the color of the tiles — small things like that," he said, eliciting laughter. "But in all seriousness, working alongside the Legislature with key legislators and committees have allowed us to come to a consensus about what is best for Kansas and for this project, and that's only going to serve Kansans well for generations to come."

The name of the building has been cited as contributing to the political controversy.

Topeka Democrats have alleged in the past that former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback wanted to destroy the building in-part because it was named after a Democratic governor, and whose daughter-in-law, Jill Docking, challenged him for the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was Paul Davis' running mate in 2014.

The Docking family has worked in banking and financial services, and Brian Docking said his grandfather and great-grandfather were good stewards of the state's money. Bob Docking coined the maxim "austere but adequate" to describe the state budget, which Brian said he used "to shimmy himself to the right of the Republican Legislature year after year, winning an unprecedented four terms as governor."

Kelly didn't use Brownback's name, but essentially blamed him for not maintaining the building, forcing it to be torn down. As a senator representing part of Topeka during Brownback's tenure, she was part of the legislative effort opposing the Brownback administration's plans for the building and controversial lease agreements.

"As we all know, the road to rebuilding was a long, often controversial one," Kelly said. "Docking experienced years of deferred maintenance and then abandonment. By the time I became governor, renovation was no longer a feasible option."

She told the attendees, which included several legislators, that they should take a lesson from Docking.

"I'd also like to use this moment in history to point out what we need to learn from this entire process," Kelly said. "We're here today because in 2017, the Legislature restored fiscal sanity to Kansas government.

"As a result, we have been able to fully fund essential state services and make significant investments that have attracted a record number of new businesses and jobs to our state. We have an historic budget surplus that has allowed us to pay down debt and avoid debt as we build for the future. It has also allowed us to address long overdue deferred maintenance projects all across the state."

More: Kansas spends $12 million leasing office space. How will the Docking decision affect downtown Topeka?

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Docking building demolition is over, but not political blame in Kansas