Jan. 1—St. Joseph’s City Hall is set to receive a $2.2 million upgrade.

About 138 new windows and frames throughout the building will be replaced in 2024. Funding for the project comes from the 2019 Capital Improvement Program sales tax.

“This will be the first time that we’ve changed the window frames,” said Abe Forney, the city’s director of public works and transportation. “They’ve lasted a long time.”

The frames have been unchanged in City Hall’s nearly 100 years. The new versions will be more advanced and are expected to last another century.

“The existing windows breathe when it’s really windy,” Forney said. “You can see our blinds moving on the inside of the building. We’re going to have them energy efficient, it’s going to keep that moisture outside. It’s going to keep the cold and heat out.”

With City Hall being historic and largely unchanged since its opening in 1927, there was concern about new frames changing its appearance.

“I know that’s what everybody’s concerned about,” said Forney. “And we were, too. We want to make sure that the building looks the same. Now the windows are going to be different and the frames are going to be slightly different. From the untrained eye, nobody’s going to notice a difference.”

Kansas City-based Timekey Glazing will be installing the new windows. The organization has done this type of project in the past.

“Their niche is windows,” Forney said. “They’ve done many historic buildings throughout the United States, many of them that are on the historic registry. They’re very good at what they do with these historic windows. They’ll replace one a day, so they’ll tear one out and replace it with a new one on the same day. They’ll do one at a time.”