The City has agreed to an offer of $325,000 for the site, and will perform an environmental review and other due diligence before officially closing on the sale.
The City Planning Commission will review the proposed site at its meeting on Friday. Staff from the Department of City Planning and Buildings has recommended approval.
The current headquarters, which is located at 3201 Warsaw Avenue in East Price Hill and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1908 to accommodate 40 officers. The 10,602-square-foot building now houses 161 officers, plus staff, and has been deemed structurally and technologically obsolete. It also lacks sufficient parking, community and storage space, and is not ADA-compliant.
The new station will be at least 40,000 square feet and will be able to accommodate approximately 200 officers.
If all goes as planned, ground will be broken this fall, with completion scheduled for spring 2015.
The site selection process began in February with a series of public engagement sessions.
Of the original 27 sites that were suggested, the Westwood location was deemed easy to acquire and suitable for construction, accessible to all District 3 neighborhoods, and having the best potential community development impact.
It's also located within the district's largest and most populous neighborhood, and one which accounts for the most calls for service of any neighborhood in the district.
The City and project architect MSA Architects will continue to work with residents and stakeholders from the 14 District 3 neighborhoods on a final design for the new building, and the City will continue to work with East Price Hill to find a new use for the current headquarters.
The approximately 20-square-mile District 3 serves more than 95,000 residents in the neighborhoods of East Price Hill, East Westwood, English Woods, Lower Price Hill, Millvale, North Fairmount, Riverside, Sayler Park, Sedamsville, South Cumminsville, South Fairmount, the Villages at Roll Hill, West Price Hill, and Westwood.
The new building will be the first police station built in the City in more than 20 years.
Previous reading on BC:
West Side receives update on site selection for new CPD HQ (3/28/13)
CPD District 3 HQ discussion continues Mar. 27 (3/18/13)
5 sites proposed for new CPD District 3 HQ, but input still needed (2/11/13)
Public hearing on new District 3 HQ Feb. 6 (1/29/13)
January report on new District Three station to address East Price Hill concerns (12/14/12)
