Quincy mayor requests $120M for Public Safety Complex

By Mary Whitfill - Patriot Ledger

Original Source: https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2021/02/09/additional-120-million-requested-new-quincy-police-station/4444907001/

QUINCY – Mayor Thomas Koch has asked city councilors to approve spending $120 million on the final phase of a new police station project that has already cost the city $32.5 million in land purchases and preconstruction work. 

City councilors Monday moved the request to the council's finance committee, where it will be discussed following a presentation by the city's building department. Ahead of the meeting, Koch's Chief of Staff Chris Walker shared new details of the project and an updated set of building renderings with The Patriot Ledger. 

The 120,000-square-foot, four-story proposed building would house the city's police station and include administrative offices for the fire department, a firearms training range and headquarters for the department's emergency operations, as well as a roll call room, training space and other amenities officials say the current station lacks.

"The building just needs to be replaced," Walker said. "It's way past its useful life." 

In addition to the main buildings, the project also calls for a two-story, 276-space parking garage for Quincy's police, fire administration and emergency management fleet. The garage would include 30 electric vehicle charging stations and would have the capacity to accommodate up to 200 stations. 

"We fully expect, in the lifetime of this building, that there will be a full changeover to an electric fleet," Walker said. 

He added that the electric focus – plus a 600-KWh solar array planned for the garage's roof  – would likely help offset some of the building's cost through state and federal green building programs.

The request for $120 million is broken down into four components: $90 million for construction; $10 million for furniture and equipment; $10 million for infrastructure and utility improvements nearby; and $10 million in contingency money.

Koch's administration presented plans for the current rendition of a Quincy public safety complex in the fall of 2019. The city council allocated $500,000 for the design of the building at the time, and approved an additional $32 million package in December 2019.

The $32 million paid for five pieces of land in the city, as well as architect's fees, environmental studies, permitting, demolition and clearing of the site. The city used the allocation to buy the Stop & Shop gas station at 450 Southern Artery; an L-shaped parcel on Broad Street that formerly housed a VFW post and now has a recycling center; the Father Bill’s homeless shelter and the city’s animal shelter; 12 Field St., a strip of land that includes a single-family home; and 39 Broad St., where a single-story industrial building sits.

The city plans to use the pumps at the gas station as a fuel depot to fill the city’s vehicles. The properties at 21 Broad St. would be torn down, and the new police station and parking garage would take their place. The animal shelter would be relocated to Quarry Street, and Father Bill’s would move across the street to 39 Broad St.

A portion of the 12 Field St. property, which abuts 39 Broad St., would likely be used for a new Father Bill’s parking lot, and the city is also considering constructing a new two-way road on the property.

The current station would be torn down and a park dedicated to first responders would replace it, Koch has said.