DETROIT LAKES — Members of the Detroit Lakes City Council received an update on the $5.7 million city hall remodel project from BHH Partners during their meeting on Tuesday.
Project manager Matt Malone, of BHH Partners, said the remodeled facility will incorporate a series of conservation and sustainability features and, overall, will add about 3,400 square feet to the 18,000-square-foot building by switching the entrance to Frazee Street.
"We're looking at changing the orientation of the main entrance to city hall, obviously, trying to orientate it more towards downtown, give it a face, also, make it more accessible for the public, and then also create accessibility to the entire building" said Malone, during the meeting.
The current city hall building was last renovated about 50 years ago and was previously used as a bottling warehouse. The new front of City Hall will be the entrance to the old city liquor store before the liquor store moved to its current location in 2012.
"The liquor store space has been vacant for quite a few years, so we'll be utilizing that space," said Malone. "The vestibule comes into a lobby space and we've gone through a number of iterations to try to get as much natural light into the core of the building as we can for work environment, but also just making it more inviting for the public to come into that space."
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The plan also calls for a new lobby area on Frazee Street with an elevator and staircase just off the main area to access the upper level of the building.
According to letter sent by BHH to the city, some of the new building features will include:
- A series of lighting controls, including occupancy sensors and daylight sensors.
- LED lighting for the interior and exterior.
- Ultra-insulation of the building envelope in the new construction area.
- Replacing outdated doors and windows with thermally efficient models.
- A solar reflective membrane on the building rooftop.
- Additional EV charging stations
In the letter, Malone wrote, "Overall, we feel that the city and the design team have made cost effective, sustainability conscious, and fiscally responsible design decisions."
"The city and the public utilities, this is a joint effort for building this building, and both of us have been putting money away for this project" said Ron Zeman, alderman first ward, during the meeting.
The project is expected to be financed through a 50-50 split between the city's liquor store and electric utility funds with no additional bonding being required for the project.
Kelcey Klemm, city administrator for Detroit Lakes, said, "We still have quite a few design meeting we have to do, we haven't really gotten into the interior yet."
"The goal would still be to try to be bidding this thing by the end of summer," he said. "We'll try to award bids in September, we'd move out in September, for a fall construction start."
The building's exterior color scheme and fixtures are still subject to change due to the plans not being final.
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