Demolition starts on site of new OPD headquarters

Workers began tearing down old buildings along South Orange Blossom Trail on Friday to make way for the new Orlando Police Headquarters.

Construction of the new $40 million building won't start until April, but a demolition crew must clear the site. Before the city bought it, the Parramore property was a Lynx bus depot, and an elementary school years before that. City officials expect the new police station to be finished in the summer of 2016.

It would sit along a relatively rundown stretch of Orange Blossom Trail between South and Anderson streets, about a mile west of downtown near the Citrus Bowl. Mayor Buddy Dyer hopes it will be a catalyst for redevelopment.

"Not only will we have a new community-friendly, up-to-date building, but it's also going to help us with the revitalization of South Orange Blossom Trail and this whole area of town," said Dyer, who climbed into an excavator Friday to ceremoniously knock down a chunk of the old Lynx building.

Orlando officials have been pushing for a new police station to replace the current one Hughey Avenue for more than 15 years, and came close to building one under former Mayor Glenda Hood.

There's renewed haste now because the city has sold the current police station to the Orlando Magic, which plans to tear it down after the new one opens. The team plans to use the land to build a $200 million entertainment complex of offices, shopping and dining space, apartments and more.

The current police station opened in 1972 as the Municipal Police-Court Complex. It housed the police headquarters, two city courtrooms and a jail designed to hold 300 prisoners. At the time, the city had 253 officers; today there are 743 officers and another 229 civilian employees.

The building was designed to late-1960s standards, before offices were built to accommodate computer networks.

The courtrooms and jail eventually closed. The space previously taken up by the jail which isn't air-conditioned has sat empty since the county took over the job of housing lawbreakers in the jail on 33rd Street.

The new, 94,500-square-foot police station is designed to accommodate the department's more modern operations and will feature up-to-date technology, Chief John Mina said. Unlike the current location, the new site will include plenty of public parking, and the building includes space for community meetings.

Go here to read the rest:
Demolition starts on site of new OPD headquarters