Intergovernmental Center
The opening of the new Intergovernmental Center 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.[i] 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.[ii]
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.[iii]
excerpt by permission from Nawshin Rahman’s paper S01