Fort Lauderdale time capsule will be opened as part of City Hall demolition
MIAMI - It's the start of a new era for the City of Fort Lauderdale.
On Tuesday, city officials will hold a ceremonial demolition of City Hall on Andrews Avenue and open a time capsule that had been nestled in its wall for more than half a century.
The capsule was found when they first started privately demolishing the building. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said he had no idea it was there or what was inside. He said he wants to put one in the new City Hall. When asked about one thing he would put in that symbolizes a major moment for the city - he said it would be soccer ball signed by Lionel Messi.
City Hall was closed for good after the building's basement flooded during a record-breaking rainstorm last April. The basement housed the building's electrical equipment, heating and air conditioning. The city determined the costs to repair and replace the damaged equipment outweighed the benefits of restoring the building.
City employees were forced to work from home or rented spaces.
On Tuesday, there will be a partial demolition of the building, which was built in the 1960s, because the full demolition will take place in three stages. The city will then decide whether to build a new City Hall on top of the demolished site, sell the land and look for another spot, or buy an existing building.
"There have been proposals from making it a multi-use, or maybe the city hall could be another public facility, or maybe it could have some retail. Certainly, something where it's centric and the entire community can come and host meetings from government to government to neighbor to neighbor, or neighbor to elected official. We want to make sure we have a warm and welcoming place," said Fort Lauderdale City Manager Greg Chavarria.
He said the community is definitely leaning one way over the other for where the new City Hall should be.
"The city has various assets and those are land assets and the determination of where City Hall will be, that's a discussion that the commission has to have," Chavarria said. "But certainly, the majority are saying that they would like to have City Hall centric to the entire city and that is in downtown. So we're looking forward to having those discussions later on."
The city's website said they hope to have a final presentation of new plans in front of the city commission this June.
