The chill in the air at Old City Hall is on its way out, as
temporary heating is being installed in the historic building so
interior renovations can begin.
Debbie Huston of the Bradford Office of Economic and Community
Development, project manager for Old City Hall, explained workers
were on the site Wednesday installing a gas line to warm things up
a bit.
“It will allow us to install temporary heat to the building … to
start drying out the interior of the building for the renovation
project,” she said.
“There will be temporary heat in there by Friday,” Huston
added.
And that timeline will allow for other interior renovations to
begin, leading to a possible completion date of October.
“All construction is to be completed by Oct. 15,” Huston said,
explaining that is the date on the contracts for general
contracting, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, installing
fire alarms and sprinklers and electrical service. “There will be
space inhabitable by October.”
After that, there will be some finishing touches that need
wrapped up, she added.
“There is some additional work that will be bid out,” she said,
“that includes cleaning of the interior woodwork.”
She added they are hoping to have that project out for bid and
completed by the same October date as the rest of the work.
Mazza Sheet Metal Inc. of Olean, N.Y., will be the contractor
for the permanent heating and air conditioning installation at Old
City Hall. Huston explained the difference is that the temporary
heating is really just to enable the contractors to get the
interior projects under way.
Mistick Construction, the contractors who did the roof repairs
for the external renovations on the building, will also do the
general contracting for the interior. Huston explained that Mistick
has hired a local contractor, J.A. Frisina, to begin some interior
demolition.
“In the basement, there’s some old piping and things that need
to be cleaned out of the building,” she said. “We need to tear out
all the existing concrete and pour a floor that’s all one
height.”
The old jail cells in the former police department, which was
housed in the annex, will also be demolished.
“Some of those cells are at the mezzanine level,” she said. “We
want to make it all one level.”
While most of the upcoming work will be hidden from the public’s
view, as it will be taking place in the interior of the building,
there will be some activity visible to passersby.
“Eventually they will be seeing work on the annex going on,”
Huston said. “The annex will be getting a new roof and windows.
Heating units will be placed on the roof of the annex.”
Waterproofing will be going on outside of the building as well,
she said, explaining that some drainage work will be done soon.
“Things will start moving along quicker over the next month,”
Huston said. The end of the road for the building’s renovation may
be in sight, and it has been several years in the making.
“It’s been a long haul,” Huston agreed. “It’s been very
strenuous sometimes. We’ll see the building substantially completed
in October.
“We hope to start lining up some tenants in the near future. We
plan to make it into suitable office space and market it,” she
said. “We hope to start lining up some tenants in the near
future.”
