For Sale: Easton City Hall

Within three years, Easton's city goverment will have a new home.

City Council voted Wednesday to look for buyers for the Alpha Building—its home since 1996—and move to the new $26 million intermodal center

"We’ve done very well here in the Alpha building, but I think it’s time to move on," said Councilman Jeffrey Warren.

Moving to the intermodal will accomplish several things, said Gretchen Longenbach, Easton's director of community and economic development.

It puts an "impressive, attractive" building at the city's "gateway," removes a gap in the downtown, and generates income from the sale of the building and the other tenants of the intermodal, she said.

And Mayor Sal Panto argued the new building will give city goverment a better sense of identity.

"A number of people don’t know where city hall is. We’re either the Crayola building or we’re the Alpha building, but we’re not city hall," Panto said.

The intermodal—scheduled for construction on the first block of South Third Street on the former Perkins/Marquis Theater site—will house LANTA offices and commercial space, and a new 375 space parking deck.

The city will pay for the project with a mix of grants and bond money. The Alpha Building is valued at $4.1 million, city officials say.