By Jeremy Kohler
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Police Chief Dan Isom believes police headquarters needs repairs that would require the department to spend at least tens of millions of dollars on renovating, rebuilding, or relocating, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
An engineering firm told the department it would cost $15 million just for the highest-priority fixes to the 81-year-old gray-stone fortress at 1200 Clark Avenue, said the spokeswoman, Erica Van Ross.
Isom plans to propose three options to the Board of Police Commissioners at its June 24 meeting:
- Pouring tens of millions of dollars into a building overhaul
- Moving into temporary digs while the building is torn down and a new one is constructed at an unknown cost
- Leaving, and permanently moving into an existing building elsewhere
Police Board President Todd Epsten directed questions back to Van Ross and said he wouldn’t form an opinion until after Isom’s presentation.
Jeff Rainford, chief of staff for Mayor Francis Slay, said the mayor “will be for the most cost-effective option that is the most beneficial option to the Police Department and we don’t know what that is yet.” He said the mayor was not interested in a temporary solution.
The mayor is one of five members of the Police Board, which is independent from city government.
If the department opted to move, Rainford said, “the market for office space has gone real soft, so the good news is if that needs to be an option, it is a ... buyer’s market.”
Van Ross said the high-priority repairs identified by the engineering firm, William Tao & Associates, include enclosing stairwells to contain flames and smoke in a fire.
The building also needs repairs to heating and cooling systems, and plumbing, she said. Some stairwells that feed private offices need to connect to public hallways. And some equipment and parts are so old that no replacements are available, she said.
The firm did not find any “immediate health issues,” she said.
No work is needed at the $10 million crime lab adjacent to the building, finished in 2005.
Van Ross said Isom does not believe that staying in the main building in its current condition is an option. “Really, in the chief’s eyes, it’s a safety issue,” she said.
The city raised $9.6 million through a bond issue about two years ago to make repairs.
About $1.5 million has been spent to repair the roof and air conditioning at the adjacent police academy, and for tuck pointing, power washing and sealing and repairs to the main building’s public entrance on Clark Avenue.
It also paid for Tao’s review, which found the needs were far greater than the $8 million left.
Tao’s final report is expected to be ready for the board meeting this month, Van Ross said.
“We want to spend money wisely” rather than “spending the $8 million only to come back in the years to come and possibly need additional money to make additional repairs,” she said.
The building, completed in fall 1928 for $2 million, was described in a Post-Dispatch story as “the ultimate in modern police building” and an “austere and formidable” symbol of power.
The structure includes many central functions of the department, including the chief’s office, the Police Board, the bureau of investigations, the records room and property-custody unit.
Most of the department’s 517 civilian employees are based in the building, along with hundreds of police officers, including the upper command staff.
Most of the police officers report to one of three area stations, on North Jefferson Avenue, Union Boulevard and Sublette Avenue. Last year, as part of a plan to decentralize the department, Isom relocated several downtown detectives to the area stations.
Carolyn Tuft of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 St. Louis Post-Dispatch