New Thunder Bay City Hall Makes A Positive Impression!
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
When you first see the new city hall building at the corner of Donald and May Street in Thunder Bay you might do a double take. Is this really what our new city hall looks like? In fact it is so impressive a building you might think you are somewhere in downtown Toronto or maybe Calgary. It certainly is a bright new image for the City of Thunder Bay government headquarters.
This city hall renovation really started almost 5 years ago. “ We were just going to replace the caulking on the windows and when we started the contractor noticed some of the exterior panels had moved and some of the anchors had started to fail. Originally we thought we
could repair these panels but the costs were outrageous and there was no guarantee it would work. The panels had to come off and we might as well do the windows, so the question was what do we put on the outside of the building. We had a some 6 to 8 designs from architect Fred Wood,” said Gerry Broere, Manager of Construction & Renovations for the Facilities & Fleet Department. That includes building fleet maintenance and new construction and maintenance. “ Once we decided we would redo the envelope we knew there would be a huge disruption in the building so why not take a look at the inside as well. It had been the early 90’s since we updated anything before.”
“ We first looked at the functionality of the space. It was really built as an office building not a civic place for Fort William in 1966 and in amalgamation became the City Of Thunder Bay City Hall. It was councils direction for us to do what can we with the lobby to create a common area. We also created a suite for the Mayor and City Manager and the third floor McNaughton room was improved vastly,” said Broere. “ After we took the panels off we found the masonry infill wasn’t good workmanship. We had anticipated some work here but the masonry there needed some steel framing to support the new work. We had to figure out what to do and then work on it. The weather last year didn’t help either so it resulted in some delays but the building is now 99% complete.The landscaping has been going on since August and is very elaborate. One of the big components is the new fountain being putting in.”
“ This city hall will be spectacular, a great gathering spot inside or outside. It is a massive improvement. Before it was drab and now bright, inviting and new. Before we had payment offices on the first floor. Is that something we want as a first impression we thought? Now it is a gathering place where you could hold up to 160 people.The new customer service counter is now on the first floor. Your marriage and lottery licenses and other clerk work can be accessed on the first floor. The council chamber was an upgrade. Prior to this we had an ergonomonist come in and redesign the furniture for sight lines and people to work on. It the same size but reconfigured,” said Broere. “ We are at $5.3 million on renovation costs and the building is good to go for the long term. To build something like this new would cost $11 to $12 million today. We got a bit of a bargain. We have a new building for about 1/3 of the cost.”
“ The new city hall blends well in the heritage downtown area. It is eye catching, inviting and may even become a tourist stop.When you go to a city you sometimes like to go to the city hall,” notes Broere. “ Considering the efforts that went in with everybody this was an incredible project. Tom Jones did a great job. City staff were very accommodating. Remember we moved everybody out for 8 months and they weren’t in their comfort zone then.”
Now located in the 43,000 square feet city hall building is council, the mayor and city manager, clerks office, finance administration, accounts payable, revenue including water and taxation and an new division called provincial land tax, a provincial body the city is administrating for the province.
“ I will be happy when all the landscaping is complete and will be able to take a deep sigh and walk away. Next year we have a couple of new EMS buildings in Thunder Bay and Armstrong. There is a lot happening.” smiles Gerry Broere.
