FITCHBURG — Work is underway inside on the City Hall rehabilitation project, and exterior construction is on track to begin in the summer.
The $23.5 million undertaking should be completed in the fall of 2020.
“I’m very excited,” said Mayor Stephen DiNatale. “It’s a much-needed change for the community going back to what should be the true seat of government for the City of Fitchburg.”
When the building is complete, it’s going to have the same historic exterior with an interior updated for the 21st century, he said.
“It’s going to be better than when it was first built,” DiNatale said.
To prepare for construction expected to start in June, interior demolition has been going on inside the building.
During the past three weeks, walls have come down and material containing asbestos has been removed, he said.
“(The project) is moving at its own pace,” DiNatale said.
Designs for City Hall by Icon Architecture show a building that opens to Main Street.
Each floor would be rebuilt to better organize city offices and make them more accessible to residents or anyone who needs to do business there.
The City Council would be housed a short walk away at the former Bank of America building.
“The focus is to have all the energy on Main Street so all public access and movement is helping invigorate Main Street,” Ned Collier, a principal for Icon working on the project, said when the designs were unveiled in December.
The Planning Board unanimously approved the project’s site plan in February.
BOND is the contractor and the owner’s project manager who is representing the city for the project is Tony DiLuzio of Colliers International.
Last year city councilors approved the $23.5 million project to return City Hall to Main Street.
DiNatale said Tuesday that the project has stayed within budget.
A cracked beam in 2012 prompted municipal offices to move to Boulder Drive, leaving city boards and committees to meet in alternative locations around Fitchburg.
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