EASTHAMPTON — The top floor of Easthampton’s Old Town Hall boasts stunning stained-glass windows which shine into a large hall with high ceilings, a raised stage and a mahogany balcony.

The space once hosted Town Meetings, performances and policeman’s balls, yet it has been out of use since the early 2000s because it is not accessible or up to building code.

That could change in the near future if CitySpace, the nonprofit that manages the building and leases space there to Easthampton City Arts and Big Red Frame/The Elusie Gallery, is successful in completing a three-phase, $11.5 million restoration of the two-story, 154-year-old brick building at 43 Main St.

The first phase, completed last year, involved replacing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and electrical systems and installing infrastructure for high voltage power from the basement to the second floor.

Late last month, CitySpace received a significant $501,830 grant through the state’s Underutilized Property Program, to help push the project into its second phase. That phase calls for restoration of Old Town Hall’s second floor, focusing on making it Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. The ultimate goal of the project, to be completed in a third phase, will be to turn the second floor into a 350-seat, fully accessible, flexible arts venue. That work will involve repairing the ceiling, installing theater lighting and sound systems and creating more backstage space.

“In all of the restoration projects we’ve done in the building, accessibility is a key subject of focus for how we want to see the future of the building and create long-term accessibility for the community,” said Burns Maxey, president of CitySpace.

The second phase will involve installation of an accessible entryway, an elevator reaching every floor, and reparation of an historic stained-glass window by a local artisan. That window will then be moved to the building’s street-facing entry.

In 2023, CitySpace went out to bid for general contractors for this second phase, but the lowest bid was 30% over the estimated project cost. The project was initially expected to be $2.5 million, but is now estimated to be $4.1 million. After more fundraising, and the receipt of the state grant last month, the project is anticipated to go out to bid in January. The work is expected to take a year to complete.

“There was an earmark in a capital bond grant that we’d approached the state about, and [Rep. Daniel Carey and Sen. John Velis] instead suggested we go through this Underutilized Property program, so that funding is, I think, what we are going to need to go out to bid,” said Mike Tautznik, the treasurer for CitySpace and former mayor of Easthampton.

The overall project is being funding with state and federal money, the city Easthampton and private donors.

CitySpace hopes to have funding for the third phase by the end of next year. The group has already secured $1.3 million in Community Preservation Act from the city, and is seeking additional federal and state funding, as well as looking to raise an additional $1 million from the community.

“People have given anywhere from $25 to $500,000. It’s a wide range of people stepping up and being a part of it. It’s really a communitywide success story,” said Maxey.

Kuhn Riddle Architects of Amherst is managing the project, and have created the plans and cost estimates for each phase. CitySpace has met with artists throughout the process to get their input on what they want out of the space. Ultimately, the second floor venue will be a destination for touring artists, CitySpace programming and for community events.

“The doors [to the performance hall] have historic significance, but they don’t meet code. So we’re going to end up using these doors as the face for the new doors that are going here that meet code. It’s all to try and honor the historical significance of the building,” said Tautznik. “Gas lights, that stuff is still here. We aren’t going to light by natural gas, it’ll have state of the art lights, sound, power, all of the things that are necessary for a modern entertainment space, without ruining the atmosphere.”

CitySpace, which signed a 44-year lease with the city in 2019, has run the first floor of since 2006, and leases space to art galleries, as well as running the Blue Room, a performance space that opened in 2022.

“This project has been bringing together the community, folks that are leaders, performers, visual artists, to say ‘what do you want to happen in this building?’ So the plan has been evolving since pre-2006,” said Maxey. “To imagine how many people have been a part of this project since the beginning and we are about to actually build this elevator is super exciting.”