The old City of Haines public works building is getting an upgrade. The 60-by-50 foot, metal-frame structure on Union Street was built in the mid-1960s and served for decades as a public works office and heavy equipment repair shop.

The Haines Borough will keep the building’s metal skeleton while adding a new foundation, insulation, plumbing, in-floor heat, reinforced edges, new siding and roofing, and possibly a biomass boiler.

Work started in July. The building will be closed in by winter and should be completed about a year from now, said facilities maintenance superintendent Ed Bryant. The rebuilt structure will become the facilities maintenance shop and include a workshop for borough carpentry projects and mechanic work.

Historically, the building had little insulation, sat in a low spot and collected water, Bryant said. The existing cement slab floor will be replaced by one that sits higher in the building, eliminating water infiltration.

“It should be warm, cozy and dry,” Bryant said.

Public facilities director Brad Ryan said the borough considered adding on a 40-by-40 workshop space to the borough’s public works garage and office across the street, but the estimate for that work was $400,000.

The borough had an engineering company look at the integrity of the building and determined the municipality “would be money ahead” to rebuild the old structure, Ryan said. “It’s a bigger building and we get the lot to build around,” he said.

Ryan said the borough assembly has designated $150,000 in capital improvement project funds for the upgrades, currently being done by borough staff. “We’re just getting into it.” Damage done to the previous slab floor by tire chains and a small bulldozer once used by the borough prompted installation of the new slab.

“We’ll still be able to pull a vehicle into the building, but that’s not going to be its primary use,” Ryan said.

Carpenter Andus Hale, who was working on the building this week, said he’s looking forward to working in an insulated and heated building. “It was kind of miserable in here. It was just so cold in winter.”

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