By Mike Kinney
San Pablo city staff are set to move into their new digs this week. Most city departments are being moved into the brand new City Hall at 1000 Gateway Avenue starting Thursday, city officials said.
All but the Planning, Building and Public Works department will be moved from the current City Hall building at San Pablo Avenue and Church Lane to the new Gateway Avenue location. That department will move at some point “in the next few months” as the city aims to promote social distancing among city staff, according to city documents.
All city facilities, with exception of the Police Department Lobby, remain closed to the public due to current County Shelter-In-Place restrictions in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis, City Manager Matt Rodriguez said. At some time “in the near future,” the city will release a public statement on when the new City Hall will be open to the public once these restrictions are lifted, Rodriguez added.
The new City Hall will replace the current, over 40-year-old City Hall, which is about a quarter-mile away. The 42,000 square foot, two-story structure has a commercial kitchen, council chambers and community rooms and is located on 2.8 acres. The $22 million project is LEED-silver certified, the city said. As part of its design, San Pablo City Council wanted the new building to keep the identity of the old Spanish colonial mission-style influence of the existing City Hall. More about the project here.
“I feel excited and it’s a new dawn for the City of San Pablo and our residents get to see their tax dollars at work with our new state-of-the-art City Hall,” San Pablo Mayor Arturo Cruz said.
CORRECTION: This story initially, and incorrectly, stated the City Hall building would be open to the public on Monday. The story has since been corrected.
