When City Manager Gary Suiter stepped into his office at the new Steamboat Springs City Hall on Wednesday, he wanted to make sure he made the most of every moment.

Suiter, who has about a week left before he retires, described the building at 10th Street and Lincoln Avenue as beautiful.

“I’ve been in my new office for probably about 30 minutes now just setting it up and trying to get my files in, but it’s just exciting,” he said.

Suiter was just one of the city employees moving into the new facility, which will officially open Friday after 18 months of construction. The new location will become the hub for municipal services in Steamboat Springs.

Upon entering the building, guests will walk into a modern reception area with a front desk and increased security measures. The building brings all the different government services together in one spot, meaning a one-stop experience for residents to access all city departments.

The city manager and deputy city manager’s offices are both located on the first floor, which includes a couple of conference rooms that will be used by city staff and are available for public meetings.

Suiter said the building also offers public restrooms, indoor and outdoor meeting spaces and four EV charging spots to expand available options on the west end of downtown.

The city clerk, public works, planning and financial services — including sales tax and utility billing — will be on the second floor with intergovernmental services, grants, communications and sustainability offices on the third floor.

Light pours into the ground floor through large storefront windows that, along with open space, are major features on all three floors of the new building. Each floor is color-themed with the first floor representing the blues of the river, the second the greens and golds of the forest and the third the oranges mimicking the sky during a picturesque Yampa Valley sunset.

“It was designed to bring various departments together, so there’s a lot more efficiency and synergy between the departments like planning, engineering and finance that all work very closely together,” said Tom Leeson, the city’s deputy city manager, who will take over for Suiter on an interim basis at the end of the month. “To be able to have them all in one place for that collaboration that is so needed is just a great opportunity, and the other thing is it creates a one-stop shop for the public. “

The new building features the latest in energy efficiencies and sustainability as well as new public amenities. Suiter said the building features energy-efficient lighting, a modern indoor air system, and enhanced security.

There is a covered bike storage area for employees who ride their bike to work as well as a locker room with showers so that employees have a place to clean up after riding to work in the morning or getting out for exercise at lunch.

The third floor features the Alpenglow break room that allows employees to enjoy lunch inside or on the outside rooftop patio, both of which offer great views of Lincoln Avenue, Howelsen Hill and the Steamboat Ski Resort.

The city was also able to transform the two-block section of downtown creating an outdoor civic plaza that connects city hall, the fire station and the existing Centennial Hall, which was constructed between 1999 and 2000. That building will now house human services, the city’s legal department and municipal court.

“The opportunity that we had here is literally once in a generation,” Suiter said. “We had an opportunity to use this half city block that we owned, saving us anywhere between $4-5 million … to create a campus here. We were able to save money for the fire station from the fire mill-levy tax, and partnering with the fire district, paying cash for the fire station and building the city hall and doing this as an entire complex for only $5 million in debt and without a tax increase.”

The final cost for the city hall building was $17 million, which was financed through reserves, grants and the Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. The civic plaza cost $450,000 and was completely grant-funded. The new fire station, slated to open by month-end, came in at around $20 million.

Suiter and Leeson gave City Council members, including former members, credit for recognizing and moving forward with the opportunity to replace the existing city hall and fire station, which they said are outdated.

“The new facility anchors local government as a hub of the city and will be something the community can be extremely proud of,” Leeson said. “This project is a great example of sustainable building practices utilized throughout the entire process from design, to demolition to construction, and finally operations.”