The Lakeland City Council has nixed a plan to purchase a commercial building in town for its next city hall.
The council voted 3-2 on Tuesday night not to buy the Telus commercial building at 84 St. Croix Trail S. for $525,000; Mayor Bob Craggs and council member Canaan Martin voted in favor of the purchase.
The Lakeland City Council voted on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, to not move forward with plans to purchase the Telus commercial property at 84 St. Croix Trail South for a new city hall. (Courtesy of the City of Lakeland)
Lakeland City Council member David Millard said a majority of residents who came to a recent open house and spoke at a public forum were in favor of building a new city hall on city-owned land just north of the city’s water department building at 1190 St. Croix Trail S. The location – a concrete slab – is the site of where a city hall that was under construction was destroyed by an apparent act of arson in 2016. No one has been charged or convicted in the case.
“I was so encouraged by the time and energy and effort that some of our citizens put into looking into the details regarding both the building and what new construction would look like,” Millard said. “It’s nice to have that input, because sometimes we feel like we’re just alone at these meetings.”
Millard said many residents expressed concerns about the size of the Telus building – 1,860 square feet – and its lack of accessible parking.
“They said, ‘Don’t buy this little building that is just kind of barely adequate,’” he said. “There’s no handicapped parking, there’s no room for expansion, and you’re kind of relying on a neighbor to park if we have bigger meetings like elections, and access is poor. I think it was going to take a lot more money to bring it up to anywhere close to what we need.”
Instead, Millard said, many residents support building a smaller city hall building than was previously planned. He supports the construction of a building that could be expanded in the future, he said.
“Everyone is saying that the one we were going to build maybe was a little elaborate, and we can downsize that,’” he said. “Some citizens have said, ‘Let’s look at some of these smaller post-and-frame buildings that other cities have built.”
Temporary quarters
City officials have spent years trying to determine what should be done with the current city hall, an octagonal building at 690 Quinnell Ave. N., which was built as a Baptist church in 1868. Structural problems include bowing exterior walls, a sagging roof frame and cracks in the basement walls. Mold and water infiltration in the basement also are an issue, city officials say.
City staff has had to move out of the building and into the city’s water department building because of all the issues.
Craggs said he was in favor of purchasing the Telus building because it is centrally located and could have been move-in ready almost immediately. There also would be no need to address the continued increase in construction costs, he said.
“I’m very disappointed,” he said. “This fit our needs with just some changes. We could have essentially purchased the property and been able to move into the building sometime next year after some configurations were made. Now, with the interest in moving into new construction, it will take at least 18 months, if not more.”
A new city hall is estimated to cost $1.4 million, he said.
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Millard said the city has $550,000 in capital costs set aside for a city hall and a $2.1 million “rainy-day fund … for this type of need. We would not have to bond for this.”
Brian Zeller, a principal and broker at Telus Property Services & Solutions, a real-estate management company, said he thinks the council is making a mistake.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “It may not have been a 20-year solution, but at the very least it was a 5- to 10-year solution. This was a way to get something done that they’ve been trying to get done for 10 years. … We’ll put it back on the market. We’ve had a lot of interest. It will sell.”
Telus is moving its corporate headquarters to Hudson, Wis.
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