Renovations underway to upgrade Tybee Island’s city hall

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Construction crews are working hard to renovate Tybee Island’s City Hall. This project takes a lot more patience because it’s designated as a historic site and they want to preserve many of its historic elements.

Demo is still underway, but Assistant City Manager Michelle Owens says it’s ahead of schedule. They hope to have it done in less than two years.

Since October of 2022 city hall has been closed as crews work on its much needed, $1.5 million, upgrades. While in the process, Owens says they’ve found things that weren’t in their original design plan.

She says crews found 14ft ceilings that were buried under layers of drop ceiling, so the ceilings will now be higher than planned. Owens says they also uncovered the hall’s original hardwood floors under layers of old flooring and carpet.

She says they will preserve these as best they can. And lastly, they found this painting that they hope to restore and display.

“We discovered an old mural that was painted on the wall ages and ages ago by a former Tybee resident. Unfortunately although the entire mural cannot be restored, we are going to take precautions to leave as much of it in place as it is and perhaps get sections of it and frame it so that we can still have some part of the past,” said Owens.

Once the renovations are done, they’ll move to phase two. Owens says this will include fresh landscaping around the building.

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