Construction on City Hall addition begins Tuesday
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on January 11, 2005 2:01 PM
It's been over a century since Goldsboro built the existing City Hall. Next week the city will break ground on a new building.
On Tuesday, Jan. 18, councilmen will don hard hats and pick up shovels to ceremoniously upend the first dirt in the construction process.
Since its completion in 1903, City Hall has undergone some changes, but none as drastic as this two-phase, $5 million project.
The expansion consists of two buildings, preservation of the historic old building, and a new 30,000-square-foot building that will be connected by a bridge. An annex building will be torn down and its space used for parking.
In December, the city accepted a bid of $4.1 million from D.S. Simmons Co. to begin the first phase of the project, which includes construction of the 30,000-square-foot building next to City Hall and a parking lot. The project should be completed in two years.
The new addition will be set back from the historic building, so the historic structure would dominate. Though the new building will be similar in style to City Hall, it won't be an imitation.
Setting the new building back will also provide room for a plaza with a fountain, and a pedestrian walkway that will separate the two buildings.
The second-story bridge will be encased in glass.
Phase I includes building the new addition and a 73-space parking lot on the east side.
Phase II includes the renovation and restoration of the first and second floors of City Hall, plus demolition of the annex.
The bridge and additional parking lot will also be built during the second phase.
The statues of "Liberty" and "Justice" on the roof of the old building will also be restored. "They are made of soft metal, so that when the wind blows they move," said Grimsley Hobbs, architect for the project. "We'll isolate them and make them waterproof."
The cupola will need some minor repairs, and the architects recommend putting a clock on one side of it.