City of Fishers employees have been scattered throughout the community during the construction of the new City Hall. During the month of May, departments were slowly but surely moving into their new quarters at the new City Hall.
I recorded a podcast with Mark Williams & Michelle O’Hollaren of the Indy Arts Center. The Center will be providing art classes on the first floor of the complex. The first floor also contains an auditorium that will seat about 300 people. Mark & Michelle gave me a tour of the auditorium and arts center. I fully expect a great deal of activity in those spaces once all is in full gear, with arts classes and performances in the auditorium. The auditorium will also be utilized for Fishers government meetings, including the City Council.
Mark Willams is particularly excited about the space set aside for the arts and a number of classes are planned. I am no art expert, but it is clear seasoned artists and beginners will all enjoy this space.
When I moved to Fishers in 1991, the Town Hall was just finishing construction. It became City hall in 2015. However, there were structural issues with that building that had it sinking into the underlying water table. It was costing the city a lot of money just to keep old City Hall upright, to the point of making it more costs effective to demolish the old building and construct the new City Hall, with an Arts Center included.
The mayor and his staff invited me to walk with them one last time around the old City Hall just before demolition began. There were a few tears shed among the mayor’s staff on that day with so many memories attached to that building. The mayor admitted he had many memories of old City Hall going back to the days he was an intern for the Town of Fishers. As one would expect, the may chose to look forward to moving on to new City Hall.
I have watched plenty of comments on new City Hall’ architecture, some complimentary, some not so complimentary, at least as to the look of the building from the outside. I am no architectural expert and will stay out of that discussion.
Allow me to say the office part of the structure is impressive because of the immense amount of natural light one experiences when inside City Hall. Natural light is a precious commodity in any work place, and Fishers new City Hall/Arts complex has plenty of that.
The city will be holding an open house soon for our new Municipal Center. I would recommend you come and see what your tax dollars have built.
