MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Someday, someone will put up a sign that reads, “Welcome to Memphis City Hall. Excuse our looks. We’ve lost our marbles.”
Marble siding is what the building is losing. It’s just one reason why a tall chain link fence surrounds the building. The Director of Memphis General Services is Antonio Adams.
He said, “Right now we are studying the marble project. We have estimates of costs of maybe $5 million. We’re studying to get the right system to replace this marble with and put it back on the building.”
Memphis City Hall is more than 50 years old. Its windows and ceilings leak. Its elevators were like an amusement park ride at one time. Those things have been fixed, Adams said.
“This is the first major building renovation city hall has ever had,” he said.
The fencing was raised and extended last summer, when some feared protestors would try to force their ways into the building.
According to Antonio Adams, “The fencing was really for security for citizens. Right now, it’s a construction zone so that the men are women providing the construction can move safely in and out of the building. But the most important reason is so we can carry materials in and out of the building.”
There’s no date on when everything will be finished.
