Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said renovations on the new city hall are steadily moving along, and the opening is targeted for October.
The city hall will change from the existing location at 302 E. Market St. to 102 N. Buffalo St.
The city approved purchasing the 100-year-old 30,000-square-foot building, that was previously home to National City Bank, for $1.3 million, Thallemer said.
The remodeling contract through the bidding process was $1.8 million.
The city has added $45,000, or 3 percent of the total contract, in change orders, less than the 8 percent in change orders it anticipated.
“This building is going to be for the city, and as far as I am concerned will last another 100 years and is a long-term investment in our community and downtown,” Thallemer said.
“This will consolidate different departments and will show the city’s commitment to the downtown by not only staying downtown but revitalizing a building that could have sat empty for a long time.”
Thallemer said the city is excited to continue to serve the public downtown.
Harold McComb & Son Inc., Fort Wayne, is the general contractor for the project.
Scearce Rudisel Architects Inc., Warsaw, did the architecture work, and the Warsaw Building and Planning Department is doing the construction oversight.
Renovations on the building began in January.
“Interior drywall has been completed and now it’s a matter of doing the finish work on the inside and the electrical wiring and installing the heating unit,” Thallemer said.
Exterior demolition work has been completed, but the exterior construction work needs to happen, Thallemer said.
There still needs to be walls painted, carpeting laid and furniture moved. There also still needs to be windows installed on the third floor to match the windows on the second floor.
There will be two entrances to the new city hall including an entrance off North Buffalo Street, and one entrance off the city parking lot on the west side of the building.
There will be additional parking spaces created on the west side of the building where a plaza with park benches will be located.
The plaza will be used for downtown events such as First Friday and the farmers market.
“The plaza area will be a gathering place,” Thallemer said.
The building where Warsaw Community Development Corp. was on the west side of the new city hall will be torn down, and parking spaces and a plaza will be created.
Thallemer said he expects the former WCDC building to be torn down this summer to make space for the parking and plaza.
There will be approximately 48 parking spaces created.
On the first floor north side of the building will be a lobby, clerk-treasurer’s office, a room for city police to file reports and the sewage payment collection office.
On the first floor and south side of the building will be council chambers.
There will be a community historical corner in the lobby that the Kosciusko County Historical Society will maintain. A bench from the former train station will be located in the lobby.
“We want to look at the history of the city and county and have a museum-type display corner in the city hall,” Thallemer said.
There is a staircase and elevator that leads up to the second level of the city hall.
On the second level of the building will be the building and planning department office.
Also on the second floor will be a lobby area for those waiting to see the mayor and an office for the mayor, assistant to the mayor, human resources office, building and planning office, a board room to train city employees, an office for the city attorney and an office for the city council.
Thallemer said a stairwell is being installed on the west side of the building that will go from the second to the third floor.
Thallemer said the council chambers will provide seating for more than 100 people.
“It will double the seating capacity compared to the existing city hall and will provide seating for community and board meetings as well as not-for-profit meetings to be held in here,” Thallemer said.
Thallemer said community groups also will be allowed to use the council chambers to host meetings.
There is a third level that is 3,500 square feet, but there are no plans at this point on how the third floor will be used, Thallemer said.
As for the existing city hall on Market Street, one of the possible options is for the city to consider selling it if someone is interested in it, Thallemer said.
Another option contingent on the results of the downtown parking study is to level the building and use the area for parking.
Follow staff writer Jennifer Peryam on Twitter at TUNews_Peryam
