Work is finally underway on the roof project portion of the historical Hastings City Hall renovation and repair project.
The Hastings City Council at its last meeting voted to move ahead with bonding for additional money needed to complete the project, which has seen cost estimates increase dramatically since the city was awarded $2 million from Minnesota State Legislature bonding in 2000.
The city ran into problems finding a contractor to take on the project. A bid of $3,294,805 was approved with Renaissance Roofing, which specializes in historic restoration projects. The project will also include repairing and gilding the gold top dome of the roof while scaffolding is in place. That work will have a 30-year lifetime, compared to 15 years if it was just painted gold.
The project also includes upgrading HVAC systems, which got underway a couple months ago, as well as replacing the dome roof, restoring masonry and replacing the annex roof.
“Due to the age of the building, the rehabilitation must be completed in compliance with strict historical design standards and should easily last another 100 years,” the city said in a statement last week.
A project timeline was also released last week:
•The flat roof on the annex is currently being replaced and is expected to be done in two-three weeks.
•HVAC work is underway to reduce building humidity and is expected to be done by October.
•The biggest component of the project is obviously the historic dome roof. Investigation and sampling of the current structure is taking place this month, and an off-site shop for sheet metal production for the project will be set up.
Other components of the dome project:
-Scaffold Install at 4 Corners, March/ April 2024
-Sheet Metal Work at 4 Corners and Balustrade, April to September 2024
-Painting Main Cornice, Summer 2024
-North Balustrade Install and Paint, Fall 2024
-Scaffold Install at Dome, January to March 2025
-Sheet Metal Work/ painting Dome March to October 2025
-Scaffold Removal and Project Closed Out, Move Out, October/ November 2025
Masonry repair to the dome will start in the spring.
