New Omaha Police Department Headquarters Planned

[jessep28]

http://www.ketv.com/news/29669429/detail.html

Various options include expanding on the current headquarters, building on the same block and tearing down the old building or constructing a new building at a completely different location. The cost would range between $43-50 million and would be funded through a bond issue. The City has the authority to issue the bonds without a public vote.

[jessep28]

I understand with Omaha's growth over the decades, a new headquarters is probably needed. However, with mayor Suttle petitioning Washington just this week for help on the CSO (sewer separation) project, prior meetings with Washington trying to get Congressional outlays to directly flow to Omaha, and the restaurant tax implemented to address revenue shortfalls, proposing a $45-50m new police headquarters seems counterintuitive.

[Bosco55David]

That building is in fairly poor shape from what I hear. Whatever they do, I hope they keep or add to the height and stay downtown.

[iamjacobm]

Hmm interesting.

In a perfect world it would be nice to see it relocated closer to the jail.  Open up some desirable land near the Old Market and use up some of the less desirable land near the jail.  Curious to see how this plays out.

[Turtle9160]

Wasn't there a plan for a new police head quarters in the downtown master plan with a new county courthouse that was suggested to be all connected to the correctional center over there on 16th St, besides if the police hq is really as bad as it sounds they might as well just spend the money to build a new one would probably cost the same to update and fix it

[Brad]

Wasn't there a plan for a new police head quarters in the downtown master plan....

Yes, there was.  

I agree, It would be great to see them move and open that block up for development.

[Brad]

Deputy Police Chief David Baker the current police building was built in the 1970s, and at that time, contractors used a lot of asbestos. He said they are looking to relocate to ensure the health of the officers.

[S33]

That building is in fairly poor shape from what I hear. Whatever they do, I hope they keep or add to the height and stay downtown.

Yes. I've been throughout that building several times, and it is a |expletive|-hole. As Brad mentioned, it was also constructed using tons of asbestos - which would make a remodel more costly.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Can the downtown fire station be next? Maybe they could combine the two projects...? D'ya think?

[iamjacobm]

They are doing a lot of street scape work around here lately.  Not sure if that means they are more likely to expand on the current land or not.

[iamjacobm]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20121107/N ... 09738/1016

A $1.4 million contract would fund ongoing renovations to part of the Omaha Police Department’s downtown headquarters.

[jessep28]

Wow, that was quick!

Omaha police headquarters undergoes $1.4M renovation

http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/Oma ... olute=true

[BRoss]

Wait, so they finished it all in one day?!

[S33]

It's not done, yet. They even have an employee demo'ing portions of the basement all by himself. lol

Enjoy your asbestos!

[iamjacobm]

Price tag creeping up to $70 million now. $28 million of which would be funded by a bond.

[MTO]

Any specific location?

[iamjacobm]

Said preliminary plans.

[MTO]

Seventy million is exorbitant for a sty.

[lmdramos]

maybe not...Durham, NC is building their new headquarters for 65 Million and they have 300 less police officers.

[Midwestern]

I think that ideally they would build a new HQ on a surface lot somewhere else within downtown and vacate their current lot so the city could open it up for development. I think the rectangle of 10th to 16th, Jackson up to Farnam needs to ideally be filled as much as possible with buildings that all have pedestrian activity on the bottom levels. So filling the police HQ lot, the state office red box lot, the surface lots by 11th & Harney, and possibly re-doing that Chamber of Commerce square block of 13th-14th & Harney with buildings that have ground floor commercial/retail space would finally give us a nice sizable truly urban district within Omaha.

Then hopefully a lot of the Capitol Ave projects get completed, and you've got a nice big continuous urban downtown!

Not really sure where a good place DT to put a new HQ would be though...

[RNcyanide]

There's always Tetrad and their civic space.

[NEDodger]

There's always Tetrad and their civic space.

No way. I would think it'd be a hard sell to get people to come buy housing in your new development if it's shared with a bunch of police cruisers, people being booked, etc..

[RNcyanide]

There's always Tetrad and their civic space.

No way. I would think it'd be a hard sell to get people to come buy housing in your new development if it's shared with a bunch of police cruisers, people being booked, etc..

Didn't think about that.

[Garrett]

There's always Tetrad and their civic space.

No way. I would think it'd be a hard sell to get people to come buy housing in your new development if it's shared with a bunch of police cruisers, people being booked, etc..

Didn't think about that.

And if police cars ever leave on an emergency from that lot, imagine the noise.

[iamjacobm]

The logical place would be where the bus stop is at 16th and Jackson.

[iamjacobm]

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/mayor-s ... ca8a2.html

The plan also projects $28 million to help pay for a new police headquarters. That’s a tentative concept, which has been floated for several years, that envisions the city sharing a complex with Douglas County.

Combining the two would explain the price tag. I question if the facility would stay DT with a joint building though.

[daveoma]

I think there should be a station downtown but the main station should be somewhere in the burbs. I lived near 15th & Jackson and most of the most by far came from the fire station, not the police station.

[jelizh]

I think there should be a station downtown but the main station should be somewhere in the burbs. I lived near 15th & Jackson and most of the most by far came from the fire station, not the police station.

Think of the headquarters as less of a first responder dispatching center and more of an administrative, and central booking location. Many of the staff in that location attend to frequent business not only at the court house, but also at the attached Omaha-Douglas County Civic Center. It would make more sense to keep the headquarters downtown for proximity to these City centers, especially if they are merging with the County.

[NEDodger]

I'd like to see it west of 20th and Farnam - continue to redevelop that blighted section of cracked surface lots.

[daveoma]

I think there should be a station downtown but the main station should be somewhere in the burbs. I lived near 15th & Jackson and most of the most by far came from the fire station, not the police station.

Think of the headquarters as less of a first responder dispatching center and more of an administrative, and central booking location. Many of the staff in that location attend to frequent business not only at the court house, but also at the attached Omaha-Douglas County Civic Center. It would make more sense to keep the headquarters downtown for proximity to these City centers, especially if they are merging with the County.

Thanks for the info Jelizh!