Warsaw’s City Hall is officially paid off.
The 30,000-square-foot, three-story building at the corner of Buffalo and Center streets was once the headquarters for the First National Bank of Warsaw. It was acquired in December 2010.
The city purchased the building from the Maish family for $1.3 million, according to previous stories in the Times-Union. At the time of the purchase, amid weak economic conditions, the building was appraised for $1 million.
Despite that controversy at the tail end of former Mayor Ernie Wiggins’ tenure, city officials today say it’s turned out to be a great move.
The city spent roughly $2.2 million in renovations and the purchase of a building to the west, according to Mayor Joe Thallemer.
The move was sorely needed, according to many, because the old city hall at High and Market Streets was under-sized and was suffering from roof problems, among other things.
Wiggins and other city leaders had been looking at several options, including constructing a new building at the north end of North Buffalo, at the site of the old Indiana American Water facility, but also wrestled with advice from a Hyatt Palma study that urged the city to move from the old city hall and look at a site in the immediate downtown.
The topic became an issue in the mayoral election at the time when then-councilman Joe Thallemer was running for mayor.
Kyle Babcock, a city councilman who was also running for mayor, strongly opposed the idea of buying the former bank building. Another councilman, Jeff Grose, also had misgivings at the time.
But at Friday’s board of works and safety meeting, of which Grose is a member, he said he slowly came around to the idea, in part, because the cost to build a new facility turned out to be too much per square foot.
On Friday, Grose thanked Wiggins, Thallemer and others for helping to convince him that it would be a good move.
“I remember walking through here, (thinking) what are we getting ourselves into,” Grose said of his first tour.
The city’s choice to invest in an old bank building is one being made in other communities, including Plymouth and Greenwood, Thallemer said.
In Etna Green, town officials are currently in the process of moving their town hall into a former bank building this month.
Those buildings, Thallemer said, have become appealing.
“It’s usually a big solid building in the middle of downtown. It makes an ideal city hall,” Thallemer said.
The property became available after PNC Bank moved to a new location, leaving the building empty.
The final bond payment – $96,235 – was made Friday. and announced by Lynne Christiansen at the board of works meeting.
“I?truly believe the city benefited from it. Now that it’s paid off, it’s a little easer to say that, but I’m very thankful that we’re able to maintain this building in the downtown,” Thallemer said.
Money for the bond payments came from the same tax increment financing district fund that paid for the Central Park improvements decades ago. It’s also the same TIF fund being used for next year’s Buffalo Street redevelopment project.
Officials were able to consolidate some city offices with the move and then allowed OrthoWorx to renovate and use the third floor.
The old city hall also lacked meeting space, which is no longer a problem with the existing facility.
With the bond issue paid off, the city can now lease the third floor to OrthoWorx, which was not possible during the life of the bond, Thallemer said.
