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Fort Walton Beach City Council discusses options for new City Hall location

During a budget workshop, the Fort Walton Beach City Council discussed options for a new city hall, including leasing the United Fidelity Bank building or constructing a smaller facility at the current site after demolishing the existing aging building.

Jared Williams

During their budget workshop on Monday, August 7, Fort Walton Beach City Council members held discussions on potential options for constructing a new city hall or relocating to a different existing building.

City Manager Jeff Peters provided an update to the council on some of the possibilities that had been explored.

One option was moving into the old Northwest Florida Daily News building at Hollywood Boulevard and Eglin Parkway, but this was recently purchased by another party so it is no longer available.

The other main option discussed was moving to the United Fidelity Bank building, the former First City Bank location, at 135 Perry Ave SE. Peters explained they could potentially do a short or long-term lease here, or even purchase the building for around $11-14 million and then lease back space to United Fidelity for their employees.

He estimated leasing the upstairs space would cost around $300,000-350,000 per year, with another $100,000 to also lease the downstairs area.

United Fidelity Bank location in Fort Walton Beach

A third option Peters outlined was constructing a new scaled-down City Hall at the current location, demolishing the existing building. He said this could likely be done for $12-13 million, a significant reduction from what was discussed in October 2022. The new city hall would be built on the athletic fields behind the current building, which would then be relocated to the planned athletic complex expansion off Hollywood Boulevard.

Councilman Nic Allegretto asked whether removing the athletic fields would still meet the terms of their lease agreement with the Liza Jackson Land Trust, which specifies having an auditorium on site. Peters confirmed that maintaining the auditorium would satisfy this requirement.

Councilman David Schmidt inquired about the current maintenance costs for the existing city hall and how leasing and renovation expenses might compare.

Peters explained that they allocated less funds this year based on previous discussions about pursuing a new city hall option rather than pouring more money into upgrades for the current aging facility.

Peters noted that Monday’s discussion was intended to be an informational update, but said he plans to revisit the topic at a future meeting and get council consensus on how to move forward. He said that staff will gather more details on potential costs to construct a new city hall and meet individually with council members prior to a formal vote.

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