CHICOPEE – City Hall has remained a central fixture since its construction in 1870, but due to its age, the building has now embraced several modern renovations. Director of Planning and Development Lee Pouliot highlighted phase one of renovations during a Historical Society event on Nov. 17.

The building, which along with the Edward Bellamy House, represents the two remaining historic architecture artifacts in Chicopee, started undergoing the first phase of its renovations in July 2015. Pouliot said renovations became crucial as the building began falling apart at the seams, with stain glass windows starting to loosen up and shatter in front of city hall.

Undergoing extensive updates came with its own set of challenges, as Pouliot shared that records of the building’s original blueprints were not available to use as a reference point. “Our architecture team really had to take the building apart to put it together,” said Pouliot. The planning director explained that his team started emergency stabilization repairs in 2016, including replacing the building’s copper gutters and adding a new snow guard system so sheets of ice from the roof wouldn’t crash onto the ground.

The phase one renovations include an array of interior and exterior repairs. Pouliot detailed the city’s efforts to repair damage to the city hall annex, solidify foundational repairs, improve the building’s installation, replace HVAC equipment and modernize the building for accessibility purposes. The city also underwent extensive repairs to City Hall’s famed clock tower.

“An exceptional amount of work has gone into the clock tower,” said Pouliot. With the stone deteriorating at the top of the tower, the planning director said scaffolding work was critical in maintaining the exterior. The city also had to replace the clocks in the tower, replacing the three slightly undersized pre-existing clocks with newly manufactured ones.

Pouliot shared that the city also remodeled its central auditorium. “The auditorium has been a significant focus of our efforts,” said Pouliot. The city installed new flooring, a completely redesigned ceiling, stain glass windows and technological tools for filming meetings. Improved parking was also critical to support citizen’s involvement with City Hall, with the city remodeling their parking lot to hold as many as 65 vehicles, according to Pouliot.

The planning director said construction is expected to be completed for phase one in December, with the city spending $14.3 million in construction from a $17.3 million estimate. A key reason the city was able to save on their estimates was the timing of when the project was worked on. “There would have been a 10 percent premium if most of the renovations were done during the pandemic,” said Pouliot.

Phase two is expected to begin in March 2022..