DEXTER, MI – Offices with doors. No more fighting over the conference room. Space for the city archives.
Dexter’s city government is about to get new digs as renovations wrap up at the historic “old grain mill” building at 3515 Broad Street, the new city hall.
The move is close at hand.
The current city offices on the second floor of PNC Bank on Main Street, a cramped space the city has outgrown, are set to close to walk-in visitors between Monday, Feb. 27 and Friday, March 3, officials said.
That will allow for the transition to their new home, in the complex across the tracks from the historic Dexter train depot.
The new city hall will officially open at 9 am on Monday, March 6, according to a city announcement.
Meanwhile, residents are invited to tour the facility during an open house from 4 to 7 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
The first 20 visitors will walk away with a copy of “Visions of the Eagle,” a coffee table book featuring aerial photos of Washtenaw County by Dale Fisher.
A complex of buildings at 3515 Broad St. in Dexter, the new city hall, on Monday, June 7, 2021.Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News
The event represents the culmination of a yearlong expansion process undertaken by the city government, which finalized the $1.9-million purchase of the new office space in 2021.
Read more: ‘Old grain mill’ will soon become Dexter’s new, bigger city hall
In early 2022, officials selected contractors for renovations to the building, which included the installation of an elevator and other modifications.
Those updates are substantially complete, said City Manager Justin Breyer on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
Officials will be waking through the building over the next several weeks ensuring everything is to the specifications they requested, he said.
The renovations included the addition of a vestibule and lobby to serve as the main entrance to the city’s administrative offices, including a new front desk area and repaired stairway, Breyer said.
Other changes added more staff seating space, windows and the elevator, ensuring the building is accessible. Contractors also modified a room serving as city council chambers to improve sight lines and add an accessible ramp to another part of the building, according to the city manager.
The Dexter landmark had stood mostly vacant for about a decade before being purchased by health care software firm MedHub, Inc. in 2011. The company invested in interior renovations.
The property consists of two buildings with a combined more than 13,500 square feet of space and ample on-site parking, a significant upgrade from the current downtown city offices, leased in the PNC Bank building.
“Now administrative staff will actually have offices with doors. We’ll have several conference rooms, so that way we’re not all competing for the same (one),” Breyer said.
The new space will also allow staff to relocate city archives from the basement of the fire station to Broad Street, he added.
The new council chambers, which have already been put into use for city meetings, offer space for roughly 60 people in the audience, Breyer said.
While the move-in is completed, city staff are still available via phone and email and can make appointments for in-person meetings and deliveries, officials said.
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