Intergovernmental
Center
The Intergovernmental Center is located at 10
Civic Center Plaza right in front of the Midwest Wireless Civic Center. This is
now the new City Hall in Mankato. The old city hall was located near the post
office before. The history of the city hall spans forty years. Here is a brief
description of the evolution of the City Hall[i]:
1956: Mankato buys Jackson Street building from Standard Oil and moves city offices from old building at Front and Walnut streets.
1975: city buys adjacent filling station for parking lot.
1992: Architects suggest options: relocating to Mankato Mall, constructing new building on vacant land, renovating existing building, and relocating just the council chambers.
April 1994: City discusses plans with Blue Earth County for possible joint venture, either adjacent to courthouse or on vacant lot on Riverfront Drive.
August 1994: County says its not interested in sharing building with city.
September 1994: City Council decides to renovate and add on to existing City Hall.
December 1994: Architects say price tag for remodeling will be $3 million.
January 1995: Council members delay plans for remodeling because of cost.
January 1996: Council agrees to sell City Hall building to Hickory Tech for $200,000, along with agreeing to purchase its Computer Service building on Stadium Road for $750,000.
May 1996: City officials want mall to house Intergovernmental Center, not just City Hall. School district 77 is interested in participating with city.
July 1996: City decides to move ahead on relocation to Mankato Place Mall.
September 1996: City council Oks plans for Intergovernmental Center and Mankato Place renovations, including pulling back the mall’s roof to the Lancer building, demolishing sub-standard buildings, and adding surface parking.
January 1997: Gosewisch Construction of Mankato is awarded $3.7 million bid for construction of Intergovernmental Center. County considers putting corrections offices in Intergovernmental Center.
February 1997: Demolition of portions of Mankato Place mall begins.
March 1997: The Social Security offices sign a lease to move from the second floor of Mankato Place to a larger area on the first floor of the mall.
March 1998: District 77 and city offices in new Intergovernmental Center, with third floor vacant.
The opening of the new Intergovernmental Center [in March of 1998] represents a sign of the city’s commitment to downtown revitalization. It is an example of a sound investment and a pleasant atmosphere which adds beauty to Mankato’s downtown area. It is remarkable for its potential to bring more people downtown for business and pleasure. It marks the first new City Hall in more than forty years.
The new building was designed with consumers in mind. It has a 16-space parking lot outside its doors, a cashier immediately inside, and three customer-service windows with representatives from four major city departments on the second floor.[ii] Local architects, engineers and contractors were employed for the construction and recycling of the building. The design of the Intergovernmental Center is modern architecture with detailing such as brick corbeling and stone accents, reminiscent of historic Mankato. Local limestone is featured on the exterior of the building, and Phenix new stone is used as a wainscot detail in the interior lobby. Technology is an important part of the building design, complete with kiosk and teleconference capability.[iii]
The first
floor of the building is 9,200 square feet containing the Mayor and Council
Members Office, the Minnesota River Room, Customer Service, Blue Earth River
Meeting Room, Public Restrooms, Two-story atrium, and the Mankato Area Public
School offices. The second floor of the building is 15,000 square feet which
includes Mankato City Offices, such as, City Manager, Economic Development,
Engineering, Finance, Housing, Human Resources, Information Systems, Inspections,
Legal, Minnesota Valley Council of Governments, Planning and Zoning, Public
Information, and Public Works Operations. The third floor is 6,000 square feet
and it is currently unfinished until it is leased.[iv]
excerpt by permission from Nawshin Rahman’s paper S01