A First Look Inside the New City Offices at the Former Bank Building

SAN ANGELO, TX — Over this past weekend the City Water Department’s much anticipated move into former First Financial Bank building at 301 W. Beauregard Ave. began. 

Currently the headquarters offices are open and operational in the former bank. More moves are coming. The water department’s move culminates Oct. 30 after the Water Utilities billing and customer service move there this weekend. 

The water billing department will be closed Friday, Oct. 27, to move from its current location at 122 W. 1st Street adjacent to San Angelo City Hall, then reopening the following Monday, Oct. 30.  While the "new" building will not have drive-through services any longer, it will boast a few improvements such as more room for clerks, records and customer privacy. There will still be a drop-off box for payments made after business hours.

More benefits of using this building are that it can house multiple City departments. There will no longer the need for some City office space that is currently leased from private sector landlords.

The office used by the City's accounting department is in a leased space, but will now have City-owned space to move where engineering once was. In addition to saving money on rent, the increased City-owned office space leaves space for growth and better organization. Some departments will be housed together for the first time in years.

At one time, the former bank building was destined to house the San Angelo Police Department, however, once the City scrutinized the expected costs for that to work—bids for remodel or demolition/rebuild started at around $40 million—the police station idea was placed on hold.

The space the bank building is adding for City operations will still benefit the police however. The Criminal Investigations Division and Community Services Department will be moving into the upper area above where the tellers were located in the former bank, creating more room for detectives and adding space in the current police department as the City continues to look for a solution for the SAPD.

In 2015, when the announcement was made the City was purchasing the former bank building, the expected purchasing cost was $1,585,649.  So what did it cost to move multiple city departments to the new City Hall Annex Building? Many city employees moved themselves but the City paid for a few cosmetic repairs.  The costs worth mentioning were the upgrade and update of security equipment that was around $55,000 as well as signage, naming the former bank The City Hall Annex, for roughly $7,000. 

The building, built in 1967, has the possibility for housing even more city employees with 25,407 sq. ft. and the second floor. Not assigned yet is an additional 16,035 sq. ft. We can expect more City departments to be housed there in the future.