News

Detroit Gets New Public Safety HQ

Eric D. Lawrence

06/29/2013

June 28--The offices are still bare aside from furniture, but the ribbon has been cut on the new Detroit Public Safety Headquarters.

Mayor Dave Bing and other officials, including outgoing Police Chief Chester Logan and Fire Commissioner Donald Austin, said the seven-story building that will house the headquarters of the Detroit Police, Fire and EMS departments will improve efficiency, save as much as $3 million per year and boost the morale of the city's first responders.

"This is a beacon for what can happen in our city," Bing said today during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, noting that the "headquarters has been coming for a long, long time."

The 400,000-square-foot, gray and green building at Third and Abbott within sight of the Lodge Freeway was built as an Internal Revenue Service data center in 1974 and was used as a temporary casino by MGM Grand Detroit from 1995 until 2005, according to information provided by the city. MGM Grand sold the building to the city for $6.3 million in August 2010. The $60-million renovation project is funded by bonds. C. Beth DunCombe, director of the Detroit Building Authority, said the building renovations met budget and were finished on time

Much of the building's staff, including public safety administration and public information officers, are expected to be in place by mid-July. Seven hundred people are eventually expected to be based in the building, although DunCombe noted that police precinct buildings and fire houses will remain open.

Detectives in several police units, including homicide, sex crimes, child abuse and domestic violence, will move to the new headquarters from various locations -- some that is currently rental space -- around the city, DunCombe said.

The new structure will not house prisoners.

Furnishings for the new building, which were paid for with the bond money, cost $2.5 million, DunCombe said.

The building, which is connected to an eight-level parking garage, also will house the city's Information Technology Systems Department, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Detroit Building Authority. The Michigan State Police Detroit Forensic Science Laboratory also is expected to open at the building next year.

A restaurant that will be open to the public is planned for later this year. In addition, DunCombe touted the building's credentials as an environmentally friendly structure, noting that it is expected to be designated with a LEED Silver certification. The structure makes extensive use of natural lighting, something that will be new to many of the arrivals who have been working in areas without windows.

Logan said the longtime police headquarters at 1300 Beaubien was considered one of the most modern municipal buildings in the world when it opened in the first half of the last century, but it had fallen into disrepair. The new building at 1301 Third reflects well on the city's future possibilities and will be a boon to police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel, he said.

"This is a renaissance city. This is evidence that were coming back as a city," Logan said. "The men and women of the City of Detroit who are out there as first responders, they've got something to look at with pride."

Bing said that although the old police headquarters is in a prime location, he said it will likely have to be demolished.

The old Fire Department headquarters at 250 W. Larned is expected to have another life as a boutique hotel.

In addition to Wednesday's ribbon-cutting, some of the 100 new police cruisers that are being funded by $8 million in public safety donations were parked in front of the building. The cruisers and 23 new ambulances are expected to be in service by fall.