City Hall at Town Square
Serving our growing city. Celebrating our heritage with City Hall at Town Square project
By David Cordero and Lindsey Cozad
As Michele Randall stood at the dais and spoke to the approximately 200 people in attendance, the moment wasn’t lost on her. The Mayor of the fifth-largest city in Utah was about to break ground on City Hall at Town Square, but for a moment she pivoted from the future to remind everyone to appreciate the history around them.
“We are across from the Historic Tabernacle, the Dixie Academy building, the historic parade grounds — what we now refer to as Historic Town Square — and two blocks away from the original Pioneer Courthouse,” said Randall during the Sept. 20, 2023 groundbreaking ceremony for City Hall at Town Square. “What an appropriate place for the new City Hall.”
The new City Hall’s address — 61 South Main — serves as an ode to the City’s pioneer history. The 61 is a nod to the 309 families that settled St. George in 1861. So, in a sense, the impetus for the project is twofold — serving our growing community and preserving our heritage.
“City Hall has served us well and all who came before us for 43 years,” Randall said. “But now we have a population of just over 100,000 residents, 847 full-time employees as well as 500 part-time employees.”
It’s amazing how fast things can change.
When the current St. George City Hall building was dedicated in 1980, the City’s population was approximately 11,350. In the early years of that building, the City employed approximately 100 full-time employees and housed nearly every city service provided to our community. However, in the ensuing 43 years demands for the City’s services have grown exponentially as the city’s population has eclipsed six figures.
An increase in city staff was needed to keep up — as well as finding a place to house them. At the current city hall building, most of the conference rooms and storage closets have been turned into workstations, including the Council Chambers’ overflow room.
City Hall at Town Square will provide added space to accommodate that growth. It will include the following features:
- It will consist of three levels over a space of approximately 69,500 square feet.
- Increases the capacity of the Council Chambers from 150 persons to 300, and can be easily converted to a community room, a training center and space for public forums.
- A ground-level indoor civic space consisting of 4,350 square feet to be programmed for civic events and provide opportunities for art installations and informative exhibits.
- An atrium that allows a covered walking space to and from the new parking structure, which gives access to Town Square, St. George Tabernacle, the Dixie Academy building and other local businesses.
- The parking structure will triple the number of parking spaces that are available at the current city hall building with 290 parking stalls. It will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- An outdoor plaza along 100 South may serve as an extension for events taking place in Historic Town Square, as well as provide an opportunity to relax and enjoy the St. George sunshine.
“High-efficiency, productivity, necessity, transparency and functionality have been major drivers in designing the new City Hall,” Randall added. “City Hall belongs to the people, so with that in mind the facility will have an open, clean, well-lit, safe and friendly environment that the community will easily identify as welcoming and open to all.”
The cost of the project is $45 million, with $20 million being funded in sales tax and municipal building authority bonds. The other $25 million is money in the city’s capital projects fund along with enterprise funds.
“We owe it to our residents to serve them the best way possible and sometimes that means investing in new buildings,” said City Manager John Willis.
The old City Hall will be used by the St. George Police Department, who will utilize the space for training and offices to augment their headquarters up the hill at 265 North 200 East.
“In another 50 or 60 years I hope our grandchildren and great grandchildren will say that this City Hall served us well,” Randall added.