Hammond Officials Leads City Council, Business Owners On tour of Proposed City Hall Location

Hammond Officials Leads City Council, Business Owners On tour of Proposed City Hall Location

Hammond city hall members gathered inside the lobby of the historic Bank Calumet building this week, for a walk-through of the offices, before being asked to put an upcoming move to a vote. Mayor McDermott has proposed moving the current city hall into the 90 year-old building, located in the heart of Hammond’s downtown district, to better integrate city business and to stir economic growth in the city.

Karen Maravilla, owner of local Hammond antique store “It’s Just Serendipity,” and president of the downtown Hammond Council supports the move.

“I think that this would be a game-changer for Hammond,” said Maravilla.”If you look at other towns in the region that are successful, they all have their city halls located in the heart of their downtown areas. This brings in more people to those areas. More people equals more foot traffic, which equals more business for the city. It’s really a win-win scenario.”

Maravilla said that there is even a local petition circulating, in support of moving the city to the new location.

“We have a copy of the petition in my shop, and we ask each customer to sign it. So far, no one has refused. Support for this move is overwhelming.”

Gene Button, Hammond city Engineer, feels that the historic Bank Calumet building would be a terrific opportunity to solve several issues that the city faces with the current city hall location.

“I think this is a great space, a great opportunity. The current city hall is a little small for our purposes at this time, and is also in need of some repairs and renovations – which would need to be addressed – making this a very sensible alternative.”

Button said that, although the proposed location is much larger than the old building, there is no plan to move all city services to the new building.

“Services like the Hammond Water Department, the police station, those services already have locations which serve them well at this time,” said Button. “We do however want all the other city departments to have a space in the new location.”

When asked about the legal aid clinic, which currently operates out of offices on the upper levels of the Calumet Building, Button said that is likely those services would stay in their current location.

Hammond mayor Thomas McDermott, Jr led Hammond City Council members, and prominent business owners on a tour of the proposed location.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” said McDermott.” This building is in great shape. I’m really glad that we have this opportunity to do this walk-through… we have a sort of target figure for what this move could cost, and I’m revising it as we go along here, seeing what will work fine and what we might need to change. Next step is to put this to a vote before the council at a meeting, scheduled for the 22nd of this month. If it’s approved on that night, we will then hire a construction manager to really start looking at numbers.”

Mayor McDermott addressed the crowd. “Then we will proceed towards a second resolution, where we will present the numbers and hopefully get the green light.”