City Hall needs a new (temporary) home

The plan to use the Dollar Store during renovations has been shelved

The Dollar Store, as it turns out, is too expensive.

We’re not talking about nail clippers or paper towels or party hats. In this case, we’re talking about the city’s plan to use the former Dollar Store on Cabot Street as a temporary home for City Hall.

First, some background. The city is planning to renovate the historic City Hall building at 191 Cabot St., probably starting next year. The work requires moving everybody out for a year-and-a-half to two years.

The original plan was to move City Hall services down the street to the former Dollar Store. The city bought that building by eminent domain in 2023, mainly to preserve the parking lot behind the building, and hopes to eventually put it out to bid for someone to buy the building and turn it into housing. (The first floor would remain as retail space, and the city would keep ownership of the parking lot.)

Before that happens, the city figured the building would be a good place to serve as the temporary home of City Hall during the renovations. But Mayor Mike Cahill explained this week that is no longer the case. He reiterated to city councilors during a City Council meeting that the city has determined that the cost to make the Dollar Store suitable as a temporary City Hall would cost too much — close to $2 million.

That means the city will have to look somewhere else. The rules require the city to put out an RFP — a request for proposals from places that would be willing to lease space for the city.

Cahill said the city has been looking around at potential locations to try to get a sense of how much a temporary space will cost.

“Our preference will be to try to stay in the downtown,” Cahill told councilors. “That’s been the preference all along. If that’s not possible we’ll have to look a little further out to some of the industrial space. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

The city announced three years ago that it planned to renovate City Hall. The historic building in the heart of the downtown was built in 1783 and has served as the town or city hall since 1841. Cahill said the three-story building hasn’t had significant improvements since 1939.

The plan calls for the old police station, which is actually an annex to City Hall, to be demolished and for a new annex to be built. The extra space will allow three city departments that are now housed elsewhere — health, retirement and municipal inspections — to move back to City Hall.

Cahill pointed out that the building currently has no HVAC on the first two floors and an inadequate system on the third floor, where the City Council chambers are located and public meetings are held. The renovations will also include more restrooms, meeting rooms, a mother’s room, accessibility improvements, and temperature-controlled storage in the basement for city records.

The estimated cost of the renovations is $27 million. Bryant Ayles, the city’s director of finance, said the relocation costs would be about $1 million.

Cahill said the city is planning to hold a public meeting in July to discuss what people would like to see at the former Dollar Store site.