Verona Photo Gallery | Crews Tear Down Old City Hall In Verona

It was out with the old and in with the new in Verona on Thursday, as the old City Hall building was being torn down.

City officials said the water damage and system upgrades that would have cost the city tens of thousands of dollars sealed the fate of the former building.

"That combined with what we had paying for utilities on the site, the city made the decision that rather than trying to retrofit that building that we were going to tear it down," said Verona City Manager Bill Burns.

What the long-term future holds for the space is a bit uncertain, but Burns said there are a lot of possibilities based on the city's needs in the years to come.

"As part of the contract, they are going to restore that area to green space right now, but it will be a clean site and it would be available potentially in the future if we ever needed an expansion or if we needed additional parking," Burns said. "But for now it's just going to be green space."

Demolition and restoration cost the city about $76,000. It was funded through the city's capital projects funds.

"We felt it was best to take the building and we felt that it gives us the most options in the future," Burns said.

The space was currently being used only for the city's recreation program. 

"We've been able to find other space for them." Burns said. 

Burns said the restoration process should be completed by the end of the month, but he said he wouldn't be surprised if it was done sooner than that.