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This rendering shows where the new Orem City Hall will sit on the current property.

Courtesy Orem City

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A closer look at the location of the Orem City Hall.

Courtesy Orem City

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It is no secrets that Orem’s city hall is not even on the charts for seismic protection; it is aging and has been grown out of.

For the past few years, two mayors and city councils have been looking at finances and needs to see if a new building was possible. Now, the question is, how long will it take to get a new one?

“The existing city center has served the city for over 50 years. During this time, it has seen many remodels and changes in the layout to accommodate a growing community,” said Lane Gray, Orem’s capital projects manager. “With a growing community comes the need for additional services and departments, along with personnel to provide these services. The new building will help provide the much-needed space.”

Gray said some things get better with age, but this is not the case for buildings. Older buildings need more upkeep just to keep them operable and safe for employees and citizens, not to mention meeting current standards for efficiency.

According to Gray, the estimated cost for the building will be about $23.6 million. Method Studio is the architect for the building. Method also designed the new Library Hall and the new Orem Fitness Center.

Approximately $6.5 million will come from the city’s general fund, $1.45 million from special revenue funds, $13.25 million in capital projects funding, $3.1 million in enterprise funds and $450,000 from internal service funds, for a total of $24.75 million.

“The new building will be a beautiful addition to the city center campus and serve the citizens of Orem well into the future,” Gray said.

The new city center is currently being designed as a three-story building with a footprint of 20,000 square feet. The building will have three floors for a total of 60,000 square feet.

The new city hall will house the following departments: city manager, fire administration and emergency operations, finance and help center, human resources, legal, development services, economic development, the recorder’s office and Orem City Council chambers.

The new building will be constructed primarily to the south (and immediately west) of the existing city center, which will allow the existing facility to remain fully operational during the construction of the new building, according to Pete Wolfley, information technology and communications manager.

“When construction of the new building is complete, the existing city center will be demolished, making room for eco-friendly green space and parking, including 35 additional parking stalls,” Wolfley said.

The Orem city center building was technically constructed in 1969 and dedicated at the beginning of 1970. As such, there are critical building codes and standards including seismic reinforcement (to stay operational in the event of an earthquake), an emergency operations center, power and data backup, energy efficiency upgrades, wheelchair accessibility and general security considerations that simply didn’t exist over 50 years ago, said Brenn Bybee, assistant city manager.

“While the city understands these safety needs, we remain very conscientious of the need to conservatively manage the costs for this new city center,” Bybee said.

Gray hopes to start break ground construction by late fall of this year. The city is currently interviewing contractors and is in the design phase of the construction process.

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