The former Evergreen Elementary building still looks more like an old school than a modern city hall. But enough work has been completed on the 94-year-old structure that residents can begin to envision where city offices will be.

Work started around the beginning of the year on the $11.7 million project to turn the school, which also served as middle and high schools over the years, into Redmond’s new City Hall. So far, it has mainly involved removal of asbestos and demolition of the former annex building to clear room for parking.

Finding hazardous materials hasn’t been a great surprise, but Project Manager Brett Hudson said it is a fun building to work on. Other challenges have included removing two 2,700-pound boilers from a hole behind the building.

“The other ones have been pleasant surprises — just the craftsmanship from 1922,” he said.

The building is largely cleared of remnants of its days as a school, though murals of books like “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events” remain on the walls of the room that will eventually house the City Council chamber.

Natural light pours into what will be the building’s “great hall,” which runs the length of the lower floor of the 35,000-square-foot building. Work also is being done on a similar hall on the second floor.

Memorabilia collected from former students and teachers at the schools housed in the building will be on display, possibly in a gallery near the council chamber. Items displayed could include old letter jackets and a paddle Redmond Union High School upperclassmen once used to welcome freshmen.

“It’s something not only the community, but a lot of (elected officials) have worked quite passionately about,” said Heather Cassaro, Redmond’s communications manager.

Crews have been removing parts of walls between the original 1922 building and a 1940s addition. Redmond Community Development Director Heather Richards said the process has had its challenges, but also revealed some unknown aspects of the building, like a brick arch that had been filled in. The archway has since been exposed.

“With historic buildings, there are always lots of unknowns as to what’s behind that wall,” she said. “We found asbestos we didn’t anticipate, but we also found lots of little gems we didn’t anticipate.”

A few of Evergreen building’s window panes have shattered, but the city plans to send the original windows out to be professionally restored, Richards said.

“It was important for us to maintain the windows as they are, because they are a strong architectural feature,” she said.

The interior of the building will be transformed with glass walls dividing departments, Hudson said.

Parts of some of the former school’s floors have been removed. Richards said they will be made stronger to hold the large number of files the city keeps.

The new City Hall is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31, though that could well be pushed back into 2017, Richards said.

The lower floor will include the city manager’s suite, as well as the utility billing department where people can pay their bills, Richards said.

The second floor will include community development offices and a large meeting room. Richards said the meeting room will primarily be used for city functions, but outside groups could use it if city staff is available to monitor.

“It’s the largest space in the facility,” she said.

A smaller meeting room will include skylights, Richards said.

The city also plans a stained-glass public art project, she said.

Part of the building is being leased to Deschutes County. Richards said the city will eventually be able to expand its offices into that space.

“The intent is for this to serve as our City Hall for the next 100 years,” she said.

Elevators will be built to help make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new City Hall will have new electrical, plumbing and heating and air-conditioning systems.

“We’ll preserve the historic integrity while moving forward with modern technology,” Richards said.

No work is being done on the school’s gymnasium, located in a separate building temporarily used for construction offices. Richards said the city is still getting feedback on what to do with the building. Possible uses include a community or arts center.

The city bought the building from the Redmond School District for $250,000 in 2011. The council approved a contract with Skanska Construction in December.

The growing city had been considering a new City Hall for 15 years. It considered a new building, but decided on the Evergreen building after public feedback and determining that rehabilitating an old structure would be less expensive than building new.

“The other value is it allows us to take this site and put it into private development,” Richards said of current City Hall, located a block east of the former school on Evergreen Avenue.

The Redmond Police Department will be able to expand the police station into space now used as council chambers.

“Right now, they’re busting at the seams, as well,” Richards said.

The city is working to replace the 1940s City Hall with family-friendly entertainment, Richards said.

“We want it to be something that is open 18 hours a day to create a vitality at night to support the restaurants downtown,” she said.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com