Richland needs a modern cop shop. A derelict ‘eyesore’ is its top pick
The city of Richland says it needs a new police station – the one it built in 2000 is too small for modern policing in the city of 65,000.
Officially, there is no urgency. The city has been talking about a police station since 2018.
However, the city council gave its unanimous support to converting an empty, derelict office building on Jadwin Avenue instead of building a new station.
And Richland voters could be asked to approve a bond as early as the Nov. 3 general election to help finance the major remodel.
The former Fluor building is a late 1970s example of 20th century Brutalist architecture at 1200 Jadwin Ave.
The council directed staff to pursue a deal to buy the 1200 building, aka Tri-Cities Professional Building, which is listed for sale with an optimistic asking price of about $8 million.
The would-be cop shop has been empty since Fluor, a Department of Energy contractor, moved out.
The building has been flooded and vandalized. It has boarded up windows and overgrown weeds and is routinely derided as an “eyesore.”
But it has seven stories and more than enough space to meet the city’s current and future space needs.
The city council believes it’s worth giving architects and engineers a chance to decide if a makeover is feasible.
The city’s architect consultant, Rice Fergus Miller Architects, estimates it would cost millions less to renovate the 1200 building compared to building from scratch.
Mayor Pro Tem Shayne Van Dyke said the potential to renovate a derelict building in central Richland is an “awesome” idea that warrants study while Councilman Ryan Whitten said placing the new police station there could help promote development.
While Whitten hasn’t ruled out a new building in the Queensgate area of south Richland, he favored pursuing a deal for the Jadwin property.
“It’s an eyesore,” he said. “Doing something with that building would get a thorn out of our side.”
Current police station
The city maintains its current police station is too small at 19,250 square feet. The station, 871 George Washington Way, was built only 26 years ago and cost $2.5 million.
A voter-approved bond paid for the one-story station, and the debt is paid off.
“It looks like a solid little building, but it’s just brick veneer on a wood-framed building,” Schiessl told the council.
Expansion isn’t feasible. An annex could be built nearby, linked by a corridor of some sort.
The city calculates a city the size of Richland needs about 53,000 square feet to house all the functions in a police station.
That includes an information center, interview rooms, offices, work stations, conference rooms, restrooms, fitness facilities, lockers, storage, evidence processing, vehicle processing and other routine activities.
Three station options
The council indicated it prefers the 1200 Jadwin site to building an all-new building at either the former city hall property on George Washington or near Target in the Queensgate area.
The architects estimate 1200 Jadwin can be renovated for about $49 million, millions less than the $61 million or more it would cost to build new.
The building has about 126,000 square feet. The city figures it would refresh 46,000 square feet, leaving the balance for other city functions and future expansion.
Renovations would be substantial.
The building was permitted in 1979 and built in 1980. Modernizing it would include adding exterior stairways, evidence storage. It would not include changing the waffle-like exterior, fashioned from concrete-framed windows and little else.
Schiessl acknowledged that its Brutalist stylings inspire strong feelings.
“Some people like it, and some people hate it,” he said.
Bond on ballot?
The city included the new police station in its capital improvement budget.
It could pay for the project with $10 million in cash reserves, $15 million from bonds supported by its new 0.1% sales tax and $20 million of the $24 million from its pending deal to sell 275 acres in north Richland to Atlas Agro for a data center.
A bond request could be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot. Specifically, voters would be asked to approve a police station bond at the same rate as a voter-approved library bond, which expires this year.
Richland voters approved a $17.25 million bond to build the current library in 2006.