Watertown City Council seeking another round of renovation bids on Wells Fargo Bank building (Audio)

January 10, 2024

Mike Tanner

WATERTOWN, S.D.–The Watertown City Council appears ready to take another run at getting a satisfactory bid to renovate the former Wells Fargo Bank building on Maple Street into a new City Hall.

That’s been the plan since the city bought the building more than three years ago for $1.3 million.

But the initial renovation bid came in at $5.8 million, or almost $2.5 million over budget, and it was rejected.

Then the city declared the building as surplus property in an attempt to sell it, but that too failed when the only bid to purchase it came in at less than half the appraised value.

The council met in a work session Tuesday, and City Manager Amanda Mack says there was consensus to seek renovation bids for a second time….

Mack says they’ve made some design changes that should bring the renovation costs down…

Mack says the renovation would still require an addition to be built onto the building so city council meetings can be held there.