The new ORDA office building is seen here at 37 Church St. in Lake Placid on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

LAKE PLACID — Administrative staff with the state Olympic Regional Development Authority have started their long-anticipated move to the authority’s new Church Street office building, located at the former site of the Placid Memorial Hospital in Lake Placid.

The new offices at 37 Church St. have been in the works since ORDA first sought approval from the review board and the Adirondack Park Agency for the project last year, which involved the demolition of the old hospital and the construction of a new building, though local officials had talked about possible new uses for the old hospital for many years prior. The authority is moving around 60 of its employees to the three-story facility from their temporary location at the Lake Placid Conference Center. Before construction started at ORDA’s venues, administrative staff worked out of the Miracle Plaza.

“Before the construction of the Olympic Center and the new Miracle Plaza, our Finance department was in a locker room,” ORDA CEO Mike Pratt said in a statement Monday. “The new building allows our service departments that support our venues to work more collaboratively in one facility, and the Olympic Center will now function as intended for guests and visitors.”

ORDA Director of Communications Darcy Norfolk noted that the new offices were constructed with sustainability in mind — the building has EV charging stations outside and an electric snow melt system at the entrance to reduce the need for salt application.

The new offices were projected to cost $13 million, which was already appropriated by the state when the project was approved last year. Norfolk did not respond with the final cost of the project by press time Friday.

The administrative staff members that will fill the Church Street offices run ORDA’s operations, events, finance, marketing, communications, sport, retail, sponsorship, human resources, legal, executive and environmental, planning and construction departments. The move is expected to be complete by Sept. 13.

The new office building sits between the USA Luge and the ORDA-owned U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center buildings. Norfolk said ORDA is currently renovating the dormitories at the USOPTC in preparation for the ’23 Games, when the dorms will be the home base for Team USA.

In lieu of ORDA staff, new “guest spaces” are expected to open in the Miracle Plaza — including the Lake Placid Olympic Museum, which has plans to open there this fall — along with renovated retail space and dining services. The vacated Conference Center will be the food and beverage service center for athletes and delegates during the ’23 Games.