TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma's Old City Hall is a hive of activity as construction workers wrap up phase one, mostly made up of bringing the 130 year old building up to code. Steel beams have been brought in to shore up the iconic clock tower and more than 200 truckloads of concrete have been delivered to reinforce walls and floors.
"We're putting new structures in a really old building," Surge senior interior designer Aimee Kwon said. " It's like we're putting a skeleton into a body."
Kwon spent a morning walking us through pitch black hallways, wearing hard hats as we passed construction workers, even scaling a ladder to get into the clock tower where we learned one office owner had a secret apartment.
"The cabinets are still there. The sink is still there. The track lighting is still there," Kwon said.
We got to see the top of the clock tower where bells will someday toll again. We also visited the so-called dungeon, where jail cell doors eerily creak when they close. Kwon said that area might become a speakeasy.`
Phase two of construction will include apartments with stunning views of the city. There will be restaurants and offices and, in a giant rooftop greenhouse, an event space for weddings and other celebrations.
"Everything you would expect in a new building but in an older body," Kwon said.
There is dust in the air. The echoes of work getting done. But there is also excitement as one of Tacoma's oldest buildings comes back to life, offering visitors a destination to eat, work and thrive.
"Everybody's anxious to get it open and we're getting there," Kwon said.
You can follow Old City Hall's renovation on their Instagram page and sign up for a drawing to be one of about 10 people to get a tour of the historic building November 15 with Pretty Gritty Tours.
KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.