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The city of Hogansville will be able to move forward with its city hall renovations after being approved for a USDA loan. 

The $373,000 loan funds will be utilized to renovate the PNC Bank building located at 111 High Street in Hogansville. 

Mayor Bill Stankiewicz said when they originally applied for the loan in May, the loan didn’t fit the city’s numbers, and they had to reapply. 

Stankiewicz said the pandemic delayed everything further. 

“After that point, the USDA didn’t know what their funding level could be because of COVID, so that is why this process is just now happening,” Stankiewicz said. “I expected us to be in the new city hall by now.”

Renovations to the Royal Theatre, which is where city hall is currently located, cannot begin until the city is completely moved out of the building. 

“Now, we will be ready to go as soon as the construction company we are using, Striker, can mobilize,” Stankiewicz said. 

Construction and renovations are expected to begin the first week of January at the latest. 

According to the terms of the loan, the city is required to contribute $23,500. 

The loan will be repayable over a period not to exceed 40 years from the date of loan closing.  Hogansville will have to make its first payment from the date of loan closing and will be an interest-only payment. The second payment will be a fully amortized installment of both principal and interest and will be due 13 months after loan closing.  All payments after will be due for the life of the loan, with each being a fully amortized installment of both principal and interest. 

“It still looks completely like a bank,” said City Manager Jonathan Lynn. “So, some of those office walls will be torn down and combined to make bigger offices. We will turn the middle floor into council chambers.” 

Lynn added that they will have to remove all bank teller stations as well. The drive thru window will be utilized to pay utility bills or other city fees.

“We are gonna do a lot of exciting changes in there,” Lynn said. “It’ll be really nice, and we can’t wait to get in there. We hope to be completely moved in there by the summer.”