The renovation of the building that houses the county social services and health departments in Â鶹´«Ã½ is expected to take about two years and cost an estimated $10 million.
The Burke County Board of Commissioners is expected to decide on a company for architectural and civil engineering services for the project at its regular meeting on June 16.
In early June Burke County Manager Brian Epley gave commissioners an update on the renovation of the county’s Human Resources Center building on East Parker Road. He recommended Holland and Hamrick for design and engineering services.
Social services and the health department is located in the building, along with the school system’s central office staff.
Burke County Public School’s central office is expected to move out of the building and into a new renovated building in downtown Â鶹´«Ã½ in June 2026, according to the school system.
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That will free up about 14,000 square feet for the social services and the health department, Epley said. The two departments currently have around 250 people working in the building. Social services has another 20 employees in adult protective services who work in a renovated flower shop on Avery Avenue in Â鶹´«Ã½.
The estimated cost to renovate the building is $10 million, Epley has said. But Epley said he was with Burke County Public Schools Superintendent Mike Swan and his team recently and they are going through the initial stages of the central office renovation project and said the cost came back at half of what they anticipated.
Epley said he is looking for grants to help pay for the renovation. In addition, he told commissioners that because of social services being a quasi-state function, the county could see 50% reimbursement of the renovation costs returned to the county over 15 to 20 years.
Epley told commissioners the 64,000-square-foot building is structurally sound as is its mechanical systems such as plumbing and electrical parts.
“We think if we do a good job of efficiently planning and programming the building, that that will serve every need that we have and meet the need for both departments without doing any type of additional square footage at this time,†Epley said.
He said the county learned how to adapt during Hurricane Helene, when the county had to temporarily move about 30 or 40 social workers and income maintenance case workers to the Foothills Higher Education Center for several weeks.
He said the strategy for the project is to move large groups of employees and staff and programs to Foothills Higher Education Center to operate there while certain spaces are being renovated. Once those spaces are complete, those groups of employees can move back to the building and another group can move out while their space is being renovated.
Epley said he expects planning to take six to eight months and two years to complete the project, with a potential start in July 2026. If design starts in July, he said renovation should be ready for review by February 2026.
The project is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2027, Epley said.
