Montreal City Hall reopening to the public after five-year renovation

After five years of top-to-bottom renovations, Montreal City Hall is finally reopening.

The city says the updated building will be more accessible to the public and despite major cost overruns, the administration says it was all worth it.

It's the first major renovation work since city hall was rebuilt in 1926, after a major fire destroyed the original building in 1878. The aging corridors have been brought back to their former glory, with attention to architectural and historical details.

The architect who oversaw the project says he kept discovering gems as his team went to work.

Mayor Valerie Plante's office remains relatively unchanged from how it looked before but she says walking into the building was impressive.

"I've been in the building in the last week. We've been saying how much there's light, there's light coming in, how much we can see the architectural qualities of the building as well," she said Friday.

On the first floor, the city is reopening a room that served as a foyer to the balcony, where the late French president Charles de Gaulle made his famous Quebec libre speech. It's a nod to history that will once again become accessible.

The renovations cost roughly $211 million — seven times the original estimate from 2015. Plante wasn't the mayor back then but says the project encountered its fair share of bad surprises.

You open a wall and there's something wrong and you weren't able to know before you open that wall or the ceiling, so this is exactly what happened here," Plante said.

The administration is defending the steep cost, arguing it's the city's central building.

"The City Hall of a metropolis, we have the responsibility of taking care of it. We said that the National Assembly in Quebec did that job and it was important for us to make sure that we put all the efforts to give back the history of that city through the restoration," said city councillor Ericka Alneus, who sits on Plante's executive committee.

The new City Hall will be open to the public Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.