After about a year of construction, city officials are planning to open the doors of Shakopee's new $8.5 million City Hall in the next couple of weeks.
The 69,000-square-foot building, at 475 Gorman St., is next door to the police department and across the street from a city engineering building and the Shakopee Public Utilities Center. It completes what City Administrator Bill Reynolds called "a municipal campus."
Nate Burkett, assistant city administrator, said city staffers are planning a coordinated move between July 31 and August 1, with plans to open the doors to the public on Aug. 2. The project is eight weeks behind the original schedule, largely due to last spring's wet weather.
Construction workers on Wednesday filtered in and out of the new two-story building, working on final changes inside while new trees and bushes sat outside waiting to be planted. Burkett said the addition of counter tops and wood paneling near the building's lobby area are among the final remaining tasks.
The current City Hall has occupied a former bank building at 129 Holmes St. since 1993. Officials plan to sell that property to Minneapolis-based developer CPM Cos., which will demolish and replace it with a 70-unit, market-rate apartment complex geared toward young professionals.
Reynolds said the old City Hall is "in really bad shape," with rampant bugs and security issues.
He also said the land next to the Police Department, which was a field before construction began, was purchased by the city 25 years ago "with the concept that someday a city hall would be located here."
The rooms in the new building were designed to adapt to a growing city; Reynolds said that staffers may convert some conference rooms into additional office space as needed.
