Salisbury City offices to move into old fire department headquarters
SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury’s city offices will be moving to a beloved, historic location downtown. In the coming months, staff and personnel at the 125 North Division and 110 North Division Streets offices will be packing up, and moving to the old Salisbury Fire Department (SFD) headquarters at 115 South Division Street.
Headquarters History
The old SFD headquarters building was home to the agency from 1928 to 2008. Over the years, the building saw many milestones for SFD: the introduction of EMS service in 1939, the department’s first fully enclosed fire engine in 1988, and significant growth.
SFD also responded to the 1977 Wicomico County Youth and Civic Center fire and 1975 Feldman’s Department Store fire from the location. Today, the offices of Delmarva Now occupy the building.
“The current Government Office Building has been the City’s main Administrative building since it was built in the 1970’s, and a lot about our operations has changed since then,” said Mayor Jack Heath in a release. “Through this move, each department in the Government Office Building will get a much needed–and long overdue–expansion, with upgrades to improve workspace and maximize productivity.”
Moving In
Deputy City Administrator Andy Kitzrow tells 47 ABC that the city is planning to move some of its offices into the building in June. The move will include Salisbury’s City Administrative suite, City Clerk office, Department of Arts Business and Culture, the Downtown Visitor Center, and City Council chambers.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to reclaim an area that we used to work out of. We definitely needed to expand our operations. So, this is a great location to do so,” said Kitzrow.
Part of the first floor will house City Council chambers. City leaders say the room will be large, with the ability to transform into a community space.
“What we’re really excited about is the community space that is going to exist. It’s going to be both the Council chambers and a community area for us to be able to do a lot of programming, and also utilize the outdoor area for events and community activities,” said Kitzrow.
Growing With the City
Kitzrow says as Downtown Salisbury is growing and changing, so too is its government offices. He says the new location will allow closer proximity to important community spaces like the Riverwalk Amphitheater, Riverwalk Games Park, Labyrinth. Plus, the location will serve as a deployment point for events like the Maryland Folk Festival, Riverfest, 3rd Friday, and more.
“This location is a perfect central hub to be able to be a deployment area for all of the events and our community spaces. The relocation is essential to the growth that we’re seeing downtown, but also the renovations and remodeling that’s happening downtown,” said Kitzrow.
The location could prove crucial as even more growth is on the horizon, says Director of Arts, Business, and Culture Allen Swiger.
“As we continue to grow our City’s core and everything it has to offer – whether that is one of our flourishing events, many community gathering spaces, or shopping and dining opportunities – it’s more important than ever for our offices to be central to every part of that activity,” said Swiger in a release. “We’re already developing new public programming and community events based right out of this incredible building.”
Looking Ahead
The building was once owned by the city. Now, it’s being leased by the city at $8 per square foot. Kitzrow says the location measures in about 12,000 square feet. The City is not renewing its lease at 110 North Division St., currently the Downtown Visitor Center.
Funds going toward the lease were originally planned for a new Administrative Building at the Fields Operation Campus. However, because of rising building and materials costs, the city says building a new facility would be financially irresponsible. City leadership reevaluated the use of those funds to balance improvements at Field Operations, and moving into the new space.
“We have a promotional rate for the long-term lease of 15 years. They’re very favorable terms, and I’m really looking forward to getting into the area,” said Kitzrow. “Because we’re relocating the Visitor’s Center here, we will no longer be paying rent at that location. So, the portion of that rent will be going into the lease in this area. Also, some consolidation of resources and some personnel is pretty much going to help us afford this relocation.”
The City is looking to start hosting events at the space later this summer, says Kitzrow.
“Expanding out into this footprint allows some of our departments, where we’ve had some expansion over the last several years, be able to move into the areas that we no longer occupy,” said Kitzrow. “So, as we continue to look at opportunities to expand our full-time staff, part-time staff, and our internships, there’s area for that growth to exist.”
