St. Cloud Unveils New City Hall at Grand Opening Event [PHOTOS]

ST. CLOUD -- The new St. Cloud City Hall is set to officially open this week. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis, city employees, and city residents gathered at the new facility on Saturday for a grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and guided tours.

The new city hall occupies the 1917 and 1938 buildings from the former St. Cloud Technical High School beside Lake George. Mayor Dave Kleis says the new facility improves efficiency and workflow for both city employees and St. Cloud residents.

Everything you need to do here in the building is right here at the entrance: pay your bill, get a permit, do your utilities. We have conference rooms down here and of course legal, planning, and community development. Council chambers are right on the main level, and we've improved storage. Now what used to be housed in different buildings is all in this building.

This is the fourth city hall building in St. Cloud’s history. The previous location along Division Street was also a renovated school. Kleis says although the building will soon be open, there are still some ongoing projects happening at the site including renovations in the former auditorium.

Great Theatre has had some interest in maybe programming a little bit. So, the theater is still here. It's a 260 seat theater both here and with the balcony up top. We're not destroying this. This was going to be the council chambers when we originally looked at the design, but there's too much theater in politics already so we didn't do that, but we will have meetings in here.

The third floor is currently being used for storage but will be developed in the future and eventually showcase classrooms decorated to reflect different eras in the city’s history.

Demolition is also still incomplete with the parts of the old school housing the former cafeteria and gymnasium set to be torn down later this year. The grounds where they stand will then become green space.

City Hall will officially open for business on Monday morning following a flag-raising ceremony and time capsule dedication.