Visit City Hall

The story of the new City Hall & City Center Park

City of Fayetteville elected officials and staff welcomed local and regional dignitaries on July 14, 2021, for the ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new Fayetteville City Hall and City Center Park. 

This celebratory milestone came after nearly five years of visioning and planning of ways to create a more efficient and effective workspace for city employees while encouraging economic development within Fayetteville’s Downtown District. The result is a new, two-story, 34,000 square-foot City Hall and the eight-acre City Center Park, both of which are located on the former site of the Fayette County Board of Education headquarters and the original Fayette County High School gymnasium and football field.

The new building is believed to be the first purpose-built City Hall in the city’s nearly 200-year history. The former Fayetteville Primary School on South Glynn Street served as City Hall until June 2021 prior to staff moving to the new location at 210 Stonewall Avenue West. Prior to being located within the old schoolhouse, City Hall was located in a renovated home by the city’s water tower and the historic train depot.

 After 16 months of construction, many of which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, City Hall features 20 offices, seven conference rooms and huddle areas, four open work stations, a state-of-the-art training room, a City Council Chamber that can accommodate 150 guests, and a large balcony overlooking City Center Park.

Within the park, the former Fayette County High School gymnasium has been renovated and transformed into a multi-use event center, while the former Board of Education bus barn has been converted into a multi-tenant building that includes a microbrewery, wine bar, restaurant, ice cream shop, a food court, and additional event space. An open-air biergarten is located between the two buildings and connects the adjoining Fayette County Public Library to City Center Park.

City Center Park offers several water features, including a gentle flume, a splash pad, and a pond. There are also playgrounds for all ages and abilities, a dog park for large pets and small ones, three picnic pavilions, and lots of green space.

Immediately south of the park, construction is underway for the new Walton Communities multi-use development, which will include 270 apartments with ground floor retail fronting the park. Each of these projects complements the City’s efforts to create a new vibrancy in Downtown Fayetteville.

“This downtown has been an important meeting place for the much wider community for almost 200 years now,” said Mayor Ed Johnson. “Our vision in building the new City Hall and City Center Park has been to raise the profile of our downtown district and to make it a place that is more accommodating, more entertaining, and more enjoyable for generations to come.”