Lonsdale to move into new city hall next year

The City of Lonsdale’s current city hall, located at 415 Central Street SW, has long been outdated for the city’s needs. In 2018, the city looked into expanding that location, according to Lonsdale City Administrator Joel Erickson.

Erickson said that the current location was just not feasible with the building’s layout and small and awkward lot. Remodeling the current building didn’t feasibly provide for enough parking and space, and the city council, at that time, voted it down.

Recently, Lonsdale completed construction and opening of a new police station on the east side of town on Commerce Drive SE. “The vision of council is to have a city campus in that location,” said Erickson. The police station is there, city hall will be there now, and, sometime in the future, the library.”

It is not a new construction but rather a remodel of the former Northfield Hospital and Clinics building that resides on Commerce Drive SE. The new building was erected in 2005 and the clinic moved out of the facility Nov. 17, 2023. With the city having a vision of making a city campus there, needing a new city hall, and the availability of a building capable of holding one, the city bought the property on March 1 for $1,825,000.

The initial thoughts for the building were to renovate it for city hall and include moving the library there with an addition on it. City council decided the addition to move the library was not feasible in the budget currently. Erickson said that at some point in the future the building will be expanded on the south side and house the public library.

Lonsdale’s current city hall was built in 1994, which housed a different business at the time, has 3,052 square feet and sits on 0.51 acres of land. The new building, to be renovated, has 8,826 square feet, and sits on 1.51 acres.

The increase in size will be a big change. A needs assessment the city had completed showed that the size needed currently for a new city hall was 5,596 square feet. The new location exceeds the square footage necessary but it was not enough space to include the library by itself, an addition would be necessary. Council chose to allow for future use and growth of the city hall within the new facility and add an addition later for the library.

Council sought out proposals for the renovation in February from 19 different firms, 10 of which turned in their proposals in May. The Rochester firm Widseth was chosen to design the space for reconstruction. Widseth showed their preliminary plan and renderings at an open house on Sept. 9, which were approved as the final design.

The city has put out a request for bids for the construction, due by Oct. 8. Any business submitting a bid is subject to consideration by attending a mandatory bid meeting at 2 p.m. on Sept. 24.

The cap for construction costs according to Erickson is $1.3 million, which increased slightly after assessing the building and realizing that the two HVAC systems on the building did not offer zoning and had reached their lifespan of 20 years. Erickson said that this added a little over $200,000 to their construction estimate. Initially the city figured about $185,000 with modifications and servicing to the existing system. They have decided to go with a single larger system that has true zoning with an estimated cost of about $400,000.

Erickson says that, overall, the city is saving about a half a million dollars or more by utilizing an existing building as opposed to building new.

The new city hall will include a meeting room, conference room, a sizable council chamber, break room, restrooms, storage spaces, reception and offices for staff. The city has four full-time staff currently and is expecting to add a part-time employee later this year.

The council chamber is flexible space where other events could be held. “We will finally have a properly-sized council chamber and hopefully we can have our elections in there,” said Erickson.

A winning bid for construction will be decided upon at the October city council meeting. Construction is expected to start in November with substantial completion by May 2025. Total cost for building, design and construction is roughly $3.125 million.

Erickson says, “This is a building that the city can grow into in the next 40-50 years.”

Building purchase funding

Funding for the purchase of the building came from a variety of sources.

$900,000 was paid from the city’s sewer fund, which the city can decide whether or not to repay to the fund.

$500,000 was paid from the city’s water fund, and it is recommended that this is paid back to that fund in a timeframe to not exceed five years.

A little over $396,500 was paid from the general fund, of which $300,000 will be repaid to the fund when the old city hall building is sold.

$150,000 was paid for from the city’s municipal liquor store-generated funds. The city operates a liquor store to provide funds for projects exactly like this. This does not need to be repaid to the fund.

A little over $53,400 was paid from funds from the American Rescue Plan Fund, and does not need to be repaid.

The total for funds equals $2 million, which covered the purchase price, taxes, architectural fees, and closing costs with some money left over.

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