Following more than six months of renovation work, the City of Hartsville’s new City Hall at 100 E. Carolina Ave. will open for business the first time Monday, April 8.The move will close a lengthy chapter in the city government’s history. For decades, the City’s headquarters has been found at 133 W. Carolina Ave. These offices will close for the final time at their current location Thursday, April 4. Neither location will be open for business Friday, April 5, as offices are transferred to the new site. The 110-year-old building at the intersection of Carolina Avenue and Fifth Street which will now house City Hall was built originally as the Bank of Hartsville and served most recently as a Bank of America branch. As with the current City Hall, the adapted facility will include the Hartsville City Council chamber, the City Manager’s Office, Administrative Services, Finance Department and Special Projects/Planning. The public is invited to see the new facility during a reception and open house Tuesday, May 14 at 5 p.m., just ahead of City Council’s May meeting at 6 p.m.
Efforts to relocate City offices and the Council chamber into a larger space began in November 2011, when City Council purchased the building. Renovation work began in September 2012, addressing such issues as outdated wiring and plumbing, an outmoded elevator system and a second floor in poor condition because it was not included in some of the previous renovations.
The new City Council chamber will provide much more space for audience members and presenters during council meetings. With nearly 1,500 square feet, the chamber will have an occupancy rating of 102 people, or about one-third more capacity than the current space. Audio/visual upgrades will allow Council meetings to use a speaker system for the first time.
“When we first learned the historic bank would be vacated, we knew we faced a danger for Hartsville, but also an opportunity,” Mayor Mel Pennington said. “An iconic, highly visible building might not have found a proper use, or could have sat empty for a very long time. At the same time, the City government had a wonderful opportunity to fill this vacancy at the center of the city permanently, and we came together to make it happen. Not only will this City Hall provide a single location for many city services, it will also stand as a revitalized piece of Hartsville’s heritage, a source of pride for future generations, and another anchor for downtown’s economic and cultural growth.”
The new location will have hours of business between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. In anticipation of the move, the City Hall Drive-Thru for utility bill payments at 133 W. Carolina Ave. closed earlier this month, when the SPC Credit Union Drive-Thru, found at 204 N. Fifth St., began processing utility bill payments. Walk-in payments may still be made at the current City Hall until the move, and made at the lobby counter of the new City Hall beginning April 8.
