The renovation of the Veterans Memorial building is moving forward and residents had a chance to preview the project during Friday's Morning with the Mayor meeting.
Danville Mayor Karen Stepper gave community members an update of the project, then split everyone up into groups for the tour.
The multi-million dollar project will double the historic building’s size from around 6,300 square feet to 12,700 square feet.
“This building is going to be state of the art,” Michael Stella, Danville senior civil engineer, said during the tour.
The building was built in 1925 and renovated in 1978.
“It was only remodeled once in its history, so it’s pretty much in its original form,” Stella said.
The coming renovation will include a basement, elevator, a telecommunications room, a large community hall, offices, classrooms and a kitchen.
There also is going to be a senior activities center in the building, which will have widened walkways, classrooms, offices, meeting rooms, and additional exits with ramps to the parking lot.
The large community hall will be able to be divided into three spaces, with folding walls, and will seat up to 256 people.
There will also be a large catering kitchen, with commercial appliances.
Stella said the kitchen was designed more for caterers to reheat and serve food than for cooking on site.
Construction workers erected steel support beams to hold the building while soil was excavated to elevate the building for the basement, which will be used as a storage area and hold the telecommunications room.
The upstairs portion of the building will be used by veterans. It will include several offices, a lounge, board room, a smaller event hall and kitchen and veteran resource center.
The halls will be wider in this area to make room for veteran artifacts that will be displayed.
The lounge and board room will have French doors leading to a terrace that overlooks Hartz Avenue.
Special drywall designed to help absorb sound is going in throughout the building.
Stella said the building's windows are considered a historic asset and will not be changed.
Since the windows are not double paned, Stella said that an elaborate heating and air-conditioning system will be installed that is designed for that type of glass.
Bolts have been added to the building to make it more earthquake proof. They will prevent the building from falling off the foundation.
Stella pointed out during the tour that although the building was not previously bolted to the ground, the foundation had no cracks and was considered in almost perfect condition. He called the building “blessed.”
A long and wet winter was the biggest challenge that construction workers faced, Stella said. Now that the weather has been nice, they have made a lot of progress.
The goal is to complete construction by the end of the year.
“It’s going to be a wonderful facility,” Stella said. “We hope you create wonderful memories with your families here. We’re building this for you.”
