How can a building be historic and modern all at the same time?
When it has undergone years of renovation with every attention
given to details ranging from space efficiency to historical
accuracy.

On Wednesday, Debbie Huston of the Bradford Office of Economic
and Community Development led a tour through Old City Hall along
with two Bradford businessmen who will be leasing space in the
third floor for offices – Stephen Grillo and Adam Jack of the
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.

“We think the accommodations are extraordinary,” Grillo said,
and Jack agreed. The men will be the first to enter into leases for
space in the building, which is expected to be completed in
October.

“It’s a grand old historic structure that’s brand new,” Grillo
said. He explained the suites Northwestern Mutual will occupy will
consist of 2,000-square-feet on the third floor of the
structure.

“They’ll occupy about 60 percent of the floor,” Huston said. She
explained that Grillo and Jack have been considering Old City Hall
for a number of years.

“Steve toured the building in 2001,” she said.

“It was difficult to see what the finished product was going to
look like two years ago” when he was in the building last, Grillo
explained. However, being involved in the process from early on
meant they could have input into the design of their offices.

“It was a clean canvas. We could build and design what we want,”
he said. And the business has been growing, so they actually are
signing on for more space than they need.

“We’re looking down the road and envisioning more growth,” he
said.

Explaining their excitement at being located in such a unique
building, Grillo said, “I don’t know another building like it. The
architecture … the breadth of windows.”

Turning to Huston, Grillo said with a smile, “When you tell us
it’s ready, we’ll move in.”

He explained they are working with a designer now to determine
what furniture would best fit with the historic building.

The rest of the building is nearing completion as well. Huston
explained that the first floor, which used to be referred to as the
basement, has entirely new concrete flooring. The heating and air
conditioning systems are being installed, as are the plumbing, fire
alarms and sprinklers.

“What we’re doing on the second, third and fourth floors,”
Huston explained, “they all had large rotunda areas which was
unusable space in the past – we’ll turn those into office suites
depending on what tenants may need.

“We have the potential for having one to two suites per floor.
It’s been designed for the maximum amount of usable space,” she
said.

The partitions separating the rotundas will feature glass walls,
as the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission asked that
visitors to the building be able to see the historic architectural
features throughout the building.

A second stairwell, which will be a fire exit, is being added in
the building. The tower for the stairwell and another for an
elevator for handicapped accessibility have been built. However,
neither the stairwell nor the elevator have been installed as of
yet.

Referring to the work on the interior of the building, Huston
said, “It’s coming along pretty much on schedule.”