The Calimesa City Council Monday unanimously approved the purchase of the former Bank of America building in the city’s historic core for future use as Calimesa City Hall. The vote came on the 35th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.
“This transaction reflects a rare opportunity to meet a long-standing city need in a fiscally responsible way,” City Manager Will Kolbow said at the December 1 meeting. “For 35 years, the city has operated out of modular buildings that were never intended to serve as a permanent City Hall.”
When the city first incorporated, City Hall was operated out of the Calimesa Senior Center before moving to its current facility, a 2,000 square-foot modular building adjacent to the senior center, Kolbow said. A second modular building, installed in 2007, houses the city’s planning, building and safety and code enforcement departments with the public works and engineering department located inside of the senior center following a 2023 expansion of the facility.
“As Calimesa continues to grow, the lack of space has become one of the primary constraints on expanding staffing and reducing the city’s reliance on contract services,” Kolbow said. “This acquisition directly addresses the space issue.”
The council approved the agreement to purchase the roughly 8,000 square-foot building, located at 1055 Calimesa Blvd. in downtown Calimesa, for just under $2 million. The city will also pay a brokerage fee of roughly $60,000 and cover the costs of reports and services associated with due diligence.
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The purchase, Kolbow said, would be entirely funded through the city’s General Government Facilities Development Impact Fees with no hit to the city’s general fund. The purchase agreement also includes a leaseback of the existing ATMs on the property which remain in operation.
“This is a standard for bank properties and will generate modest revenue to offset a portion of the ongoing facility costs once staff relocates,” Kolbow said.
Bank of America, which hasn’t used the building as a bank since about 2020, put it up for sale earlier this year after a lease with the county ended. The county previously used the facility as a temporary library during construction of the new Calimesa Public Library, which opened in July.
Following the close of escrow, city staff will bring a request to the council to issue a request for proposals for architectural design, space planning and programming to convert the existing building into a functioning city hall.
“We already have outgrown our current facilities, and this is going to be something that’s going to allow us to serve our community well for decades to come,” Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Cervantez said. “And it’s going to be a building that we can be proud of, a place where we can conduct our business in a space that is comfortable and conducive to what we have to do.”
Once city staff is able to relocate to the new facility, Kolbow said the current site could be repurposed to support public works, serve as a potential location for a new emergency operation center, which would be funded by a federal earmark, or accommodate future community services needs.
In other council action: As part of the council’s annual reorganization, Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Cervantez was elevated to mayor and Councilmember John Manly was elevated to mayor pro tem. They will serve in these roles until next December.
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