Photo by Deb Gau The Social Science building at SMSU will be the temporary home of Marshall city offices while renovations are underway at the City Hall building on Main Street. The temporary offices will be operational starting Monday, Jan. 6.

MARSHALL — The work to move into temporary offices at the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University will kick into high gear for the city of Marshall in a couple of weeks.

The city announced Tuesday that the relocation will start Dec. 30. City staff will be in offices in the Social Science building at SMSU for the next year and a half, while renovations are completed at City Hall on Main Street.

The Marshall City Council approved construction bids in November to remodel the 55-year-old building. The construction work will start with the removal of asbestos and hazardous materials, and then move on to tearing out and re-pouring the concrete slab that makes up the building’s main floor. The main floor will be lowered to bring it down to street level, offices will be rebuilt, and an unused former police and fire garage will be converted into city council meeting chambers.

Moving in at SMSU should take about a week, city staff said Tuesday. The temporary offices aren’t going to be fully operational until Jan. 6. During move-in week, city residents and visitors may experience service delays. People who need to access city services are encouraged to call the city hall phone number at 507-537-6760, city staff said.

The city will be leasing a total of 31 office and classroom spaces in the Social Science building. As part of the lease agreement, there will be parking spaces available for customers visiting city offices. An SMSU visitor parking pass will not be needed to use the city parking spaces.

Signs will also be posted to point visitors toward city offices, city staff said.

Members of the public with questions about the relocation can contact Marshall city clerk Kyle Box at the city hall phone number.

Estimated construction costs for city hall construction are about $6.139 million, but there will be additional costs including $67,000 for hazardous materials removal and a $138,000 lease for the temporary offices at SMSU. Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said the city would issue bonds for the project to keep city reserves from dropping too low, but bond payments will be made with existing city revenue and revenue from the municipal liquor store.