VIDEO: Old Richfield City Hall Meets the Wrecking Ball

It's said that what goes up must come down. 

After being erected more than 40 years ago, demolition began on Richfield's old city hall building Tuesday morning.

"The reason for building the new building, we weren't ADA compliant, security reasons, and it just didn't fit today's needs," said Dave Conrads, building and maintenance supervisor for the City of Richfield.

The new city hall building along Portland Ave. opened in early June, a $22 million structure that replaces the old building city employees say was badly deteriorated. But Conrads says the old city hall still has sentimental value.

"We have employees that have been in the building 35, close to 40 years," he said. "So there is an attachment to it. But it's closure for us to see it coming down."

A process that won't exactly be immediate.

For the next three weeks, demolition crews will work to tear down the old city hall building. The spot will eventually become a parking lot.

"Right now for temporary parking we have about 10 spots for customers to come into," Conrads said. "So there's a lot of work that needs to be done."

Work that first includes sorting the metal, crushing the concrete and blocks, and placing everything into dumpsters.

"It's time consuming," Conrads said. "It looks like it can be taken down real quick, but it's the sorting of the metal and everything that takes time."

Once all the materials are sorted, he hopes to finish the process of turning the space into a parking lot sometime before Thanksgiving.

"Asphalt plants — rule of thumb — typically close by Thanksgiving," Conrads said. "There's a lot of work to do to get the parking lot in by Thanksgiving."

But it's a labor of love to finish a project that generations of Richfield residents will be able to enjoy.

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