EMMAUS, Pa. — A year and a half after ground was broken on renovations to Borough Hall, Central Station and the police station, officials said the buildings now are headed toward a likely summer completion.
Since December 2021, complete interior renovations of Borough Hall and Central Station, which houses Emmaus' fire and EMS services and administration, have taken place.
- Over $10 million in renovation work at the Borough of Emmaus municipal building and central fire and EMS station offices are nearing completion
- Borough offices and council meetings are expected to return to Borough Hall by September with some changes for how residents interact with the space
- Minor renovations to expand space have also come to the nearby Emmaus Police Station
Infrastructure upgrades as well as office space improvements were implemented throughout both buildings — including privacy considerations such as private rooms and soundproofing to better align with HIPPAA regulations.
Additional minor renovations took place at the borough's police station.
Borough Manager Shane Pepe said during a tour for borough employees of the updated spaces that among the three buildings, the project cost $10.4 million, with $5.2 million for the borough hall upgrade and $5.1 million going to Central Station.
The borough spent just over $100,000 on renovations at the police station, focused on expanding office space, creating room for more vehicles and upgrading the evidence room.
While final interior work and acquiring furniture continues at the borough hall and Fire and EMS HQ, Pepe said if all goes well, he hopes employees and council members can begin moving into the space at borough hall by September, and the borough can open Central Station within the next month and a half.
The borough decided to renovate its hall after abandoning plans to move the municipality's offices and police to the former Rodale Press offices at 33 E. Minor St., now occupied by Seven Generations Charter School.
Pepe explained there have been delays related to utility infrastructure installation and other matters.
He said the building the administration currently occupies at the former Rodale complex at South 10th Street has worked well as a rented space, and that the borough was very lucky that it was available, but it will be nice for meetings to return to a place designed for that purpose.
"People identify this building with the downtown, and when we bought 30 East Minor Street, that was part of the outcry, when we when we were looking at moving over there," Pepe said.
"It's right on the downtown, it's easy to get to for everybody. At the end of the day, we're able to keep keep this historic building in the downtown and run our local government out of it, and it's a more appropriate space than it was."
Resident access shakeups
Residents using borough offices may notice changes in the newly gutted and rebuilt space.
Now, all residents will have to enter the building via the front lobby, with garages having moved to the rear of the building, where parking and other doors existed prior, and a side ramp having been removed.
The lobby gives visitors direct access to the elevator and stairs to take them directly to the council chambers, payment offices, tax collector and other services.
Increased security measures throughout the building mean doors to offices now require key fobs, and residents won't simply be able to walk into them without permission.
Plans allow for residents making payments to the borough in person to be able to see transactions on a screen and be able to manage the handling of their cards themselves to increase trust and comfort, Pepe said.
Part of the former garage space also has been converted for office space for community organizations, accessed directly from the lobby.
An aging building with severe utility needs
Emmaus Borough Hall was first constructed in the 1930s, meaning renovations needed to bring the building up to date were lengthy.
Pepe said the building had to be gutted to fit new electric, plumbing and HVAC infrastructure into the building, along with installing fire alarms and a sprinkler system.
He said more than $2 million went into utility renovations alone.
Action also has been taken to ensure damaging water leakage issues in the roof and basement were solved.
The stone look of the building remains, along with many doors and windows of the original, while much of the inside and façade of the entrance have changed.
Some work was done to fix cracks and damage to the exterior, as well.
Prior to the renovation, Pepe said, there was no centralized HVAC system and various energy inefficiencies had to be addressed.
"In a place where we're supposed to enforce codes, we had space heaters in every office and we had window air conditioners that were 25 years old," Pepe said.
He called it issue No. 1 that had to be resolved, followed by frequent plumbing issues.
"It was a very old building that really wasn't functioning for us anymore," Teresa Pohlmann, the billing clerk at the Emmaus town hall, said.
"There was no air conditioning in the area where residents would be in the lobby, and at times, it'd be very warm and uncomfortable in there, especially for some of our older residents."
Pohlmann spoke highly of plans to have greater visibility and digitization of payments, as well as of the security enhancements throughout the building.
"I think it's great," she said. "I love that that the way they incorporated the old with the new making it functional. I think it'll make my job able to be done more expediently, and that it will help the residents."
Some police space, including an expanded evidence storage room, were included in the former garage space.
Council chambers retained and preserved the flag, tapestry and mural that were present prior to the renovations, while ensuring the chamber is camera ready for live streaming meetings.
Fire and EMS get a lot new to work with
Central Station was built in the 1980s for the then-volunteer fire and ambulance departments, both of which have since become paid and larger organizations.
"Those days are long over," Pepe said.
With the needs of their modern-day paid fire and EMS staff to be addressed, renovations at the station include ensuring HIPAA-compliant locations to complete medical reporting, better securing of medicine, and building on a conference room designed to be used as a fire and EMS training facility.
"We've created a space that, you know, these paid employees that are officers that are administration, they have their own offices to do all that state required reporting," Pepe said.
Also redone were lockers, bunk rooms for those on overnight shifts, equipment racks, bathrooms and redesigning office spaces in the building.
During renovations, Fire and EMS workers operated on the former Lions Field Park, where park renovations and a reinstallation of a baseball field are set to take place following the conclusion of renovations.
Some high-level officials for Fire and EMS worked at the borough's temporary offices at South 10th Street during that time, Pepe said.
