Renovated Arlington Town Hall a welcome sight for staff, officials

By Michael Waddell – Daily Memphian

January 25, 2026

Arlington’s town staff finally has a little elbow room.

With construction completed earlier this month on a $2.3 million Town Hall renovation, a once cramped office and meeting space has been transformed.

For much of last year, staff relocated to Arlington’s Public Works building at 11719 Memphis-Arlington Road.

“We made the most of the space we had previously, but the expansion gives us dedicated work and meeting spaces, additional file storage and a layout that better supports our growing team,” said former Town Planner Angela Reeder, who now works in administration and communications for the suburb.

Monthly meetings were held at alternate locations around town, including the Safe Room at Arlington Elementary and the Arlington Community Schools district.

The scattered services and meetings have now returned to the regular space at 5854 Airline Road.

“The building’s beautiful and has a great look for what we’re trying to accomplish,” Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman said. “It’s really nice to have the much-needed additional space for staff.”

The renovation, completed by general contractor Grinder Taber Grinder from plans drawn up by Renaissance Group, doubles the building’s size to roughly 5,000 square feet.

Town Hall was built in 1980 and had already undergone a pair of renovations to address expansion.

“When you go to renovate and add on to a building that old, you’re going to run into issues you didn’t know you had,” Town Administrator Cathy Durant said.

Those problems included foundational and roof rafter concerns that needed addressing.

A heavy rainstorm during roof work also caused water damage to parts of the building not originally slated for renovation.

“What we ended up doing was just agreeing to renovate all of those spaces, so there’s not a space in this building that hasn’t been touched by the renovation,” Durant said.

The remodel also provided an opportunity to upgrade security and technology throughout the building.

“And now we have conference room meeting space for all types of events,” Wissman said.

Arlington’s long-range plan is to build a new Town Hall on land off Milton Wilson Boulevard. The town has been acquiring potential properties since 2016.

The most recent acquisition came in December 2023 with the purchase of 353 acres from the State of Tennessee. That land was once part of the 444-acre state Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities campus.

Arlington hopes to acquire an additional 88 acres from the former campus for infrastructure purposes. That must occur before further planning begins for a municipal complex there.

Before acquiring the DIDD land, new town offices were considered as part of a municipal complex on 15 acres between Village Center and Douglass streets.

The town will hold an open house at Town Hall on Monday, Feb. 2, at 5 p.m.

“We’re pleased with how it turned out, and it’s going to be a good facility for the town for years to come,” Durant said. “We’re going to outgrow it very quickly, but it will still be a good, solid building for 20 to 30 years down the road in some municipal function.”