Technical Tour of Columbia Heights City Hall with Networking to Follow

The APWA-MN Membership & Special Events Committee invites you to a technical tour of the City of Columbia Heights new City Hall on Thursday, March 27 with networking at the Rail Werks Brewing Depot after the tour.

TIME: 2:00 pm tour, lasting approximately one hour, with networking to follow

COST: Free to attend

RSVP: Reserve your spot by Tuesday, March 25

LIMIT: 30 people

DETAILS: In 2018, a facility condition report estimated that renovation costs for the existing Columbia Heights’ old City Hall would reach $6-8 million over the next decade. Built in 1942, the building had been repurposed multiple times in its 80-year history, resulting in a disjointed, multi-level layout with a growing list of accessibility and condition issues. 

After exploring costs to construct a new stand-alone building, the city saw the savings potential in partnering with a developer to build a new City Hall as part of a public-private development project in a new luxury apartment building complex. The city ultimately chose this path, saving upwards of $6 million in building costs and resulting in a new City Hall that combines multiple departments under one roof to deliver city services in the heart of the city’s main corridor. In addition to taking this innovative cost-saving approach, the city proactively planned for this expense and was able to avoid increasing taxes to pay for the project by relying on funds that had been saved over several years.