That's the age-old dilemma facing Sandy officials as they weigh whether to save their former City Hall.

"We're spending taxpayer money so we've got to be careful," City Council Chairman Chris McCandless said.

Built in 1927 as Sandy Junior High and now home to the city's Parks and Recreation Department, the two-story building is in need of seismic upgrades, wheelchair-friendly ramps, an elevator and a makeover of its cramped interior space.

"I want it to be more open. I want windows in there instead of walls," said Councilwoman Linda Martinez Saville, who directs Sandy's youth club, which is housed in the basement.

The group, formerly the Sandy Boys & Girls Club, would score additional space whether the building is razed or renovated. The parks department plans to move to the Alta Canyon Recreation Center after a yet-to-begin expansion there wraps up.

The old building at 440 E. 8680 South then would be transformed into a community center for the historic Sandy neighborhood.

Council members are waiting for a $35,000 study from Cooper Roberts Simonsen & Associates to decide whether the brick schoolhouse is worth saving. The results are due back in May.

Allen Roberts of the Salt Lake City-based architecture firm said the cost analysis is not complete, but the firm's previous experience has shown it is "always" cheaper to recycle an old structure rather than start new.

Recently, his company remodeled the Maeser School in Provo for a cost of $100 per square foot. New construction typically costs $200 to $250 per square foot.

"It's wasteful to tear down a building that could be renovated successfully," he said. "That's what sustainable design, sustainable living is about."

Last year, Sandy staffers recommended scrapping the structure, saying the renovation tab would not be worth the upkeep and limited space when compared with building new.

But Councilman Scott Cowdell, who represents Sandy's historic district, pushed to save the 80-year-old building and sought the outside report.

"It's basically the last historic building in Sandy," said Cowdell, who attended classes there when the school served as an elementary extension. "Our children deserve an opportunity to see how we lived. Everything can't be new and streamlined."

This week, Cowdell and his colleagues toured two recently reborn school buildings: South Salt Lake's Columbus Center and Holladay City Hall.

Sandy's council members admired the tall ceilings and new light fixtures in the former Columbus School and gushed over the huge windows and plush finishes in Holladay.

"If our building can look as great as this one, it would be awesome," Martinez Saville said after leaving the Columbus Center, a community center that also boasts a Salt Lake County library branch. "Before we started [on the tour], I thought, 'How can we make this [Sandy building] work?' . . . After seeing this, it is possible."

rwinters@sltrib.com

* Sandy Junior High was designed by Utah architects Carl W. Scott and George W. Welch.

* Construction was completed in 1927 at 440 E. 8680 South.

* Sandy bought the building from the Jordan School District in 1976 and converted it into City Hall. The city's main offices moved into a new building in 1993.

* Last year, the city estimated renovating or replacing the building would cost $2 million to $5 million.