A new home for city government is rising in Lake Elsinore.
Crews are building a new city hall next to the current one and the project should be completed by the end of the year, Mayor Brian Tisdale said Friday, Jan. 3.
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The new three-story, 40,252-square-foot, building is under construction at the corner of Main Street and East Graham Avenue.
The $31.3 million project, on which work began in late 2023, is planned to address the increasing demand for public services, officials said.
“As a growing city and a professional city, we need a professional city hall,” Tisdale said.
Currently, city council meetings are held at the Lake Elsinore Cultural Arts Center rather than at city hall. A major improvement will be the new building’s inclusion of a city council chamber — an amenity the old facility lacked.
“Our city has had this tendency to use very old buildings, banks, and other things, so this is definitely where we’re going as far as being a professional city by having a professional city hall,” Tisdale said.
The current city hall is expected to stay standing and may be leased for new uses, City Councilmember Steve Manos said. For example, it could serve as an incubator for new businesses or become a location for an extension campus offering courses from nearby colleges, said Manos, who added that no specifics have yet been determined.
The majority of employees working today at city hall will transfer to the new one, Tisdale said.
The building’s design will feature three interior stories and a fourth-story deck with views of the lake.
“The deck will be available for public events, giving everyone a chance to see the space,” Manos said. “It’ll be very nice.”
The city hall lobby will show off Lake Elsinore’s first fire engine, from 1925.
In addition to housing city employees and offices, the new building’s capacity for council meetings will create a hub for administrative and civic functions.
“It’s a sign that the city is growing up,” Manos said, adding that as Lake Elsinore grows, it will need more departments and space.
Tisdale said: “It’s going to be nice to have a professional space for everybody to work in.”
