The City of St. Marys will soon see another huge addition to the list of changes being made to its downtown. A new administration building is in the works to be constructed. This will then allow the current one on Spring Street to be torn down.
Three blighted buildings down the street were purchased by the city to be demolished. They will be replaced with the new newly designed administration building. The Mayor of St. Marys, Pat McGowan says flooding is the biggest issue in the current space, on top of many others.
"It's just not a healthy building. It needs lots and lots of work," says McGowan. "From complete stripping down to the bare walls and then rebuilding back in. It's very small, and we're still going to be sitting there with the capability of flooding. So, the building really needs to go."
Also, still happening downtown is the historic flour mill restoration. Although phase 1 has been complete for months, phase 2 can't move ahead without funding and a concept to fill it. However, this could pose a problem with new restrictions placed on the project.
"The mill will have to stay, because of the Ohio Historical Society, will have to stay as is," McGowan explains. "In other words we can't go in and put all kinds of decorations and stuff like that. It has to stay historically correct. So, finding the right fit to go into that will be extremely important."
St. Marys City Council will vote on legislation at Monday night's meeting to allow the new administration building design phase to begin. If approved, the entire demolition and construction process is expected to be done by the city's bicentennial in 2023.
