New police base ready for action
By: Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer
April 2, 2009
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| Sneak-peek: San Mateo will soon host an event for media and the public to tour the new police headquarters. (Juan Carlos Pometta Betancourt/Special to The Examiner) |
SAN MATEO — Tonight, a few members of the public will have the chance to see the new police headquarters — which is a dozen years in the making.
Officers are expected to move into the new building by the end of the month, said San Mateo Community Development Director Robert Beyer.
The new building is located on Franklin Parkway across from the southeast corner of the old Bay Meadows Race Track lot, about a mile southeast of the current building on South Delaware Street.
Moving boxes have yet to make their way into the new building, as there are still some finishing touches to be made, according to officials, and portions of the facility still have to pass fire and safety inspections.
However, the city made special arrangements with the construction company — which is still the building’s legal owner — to give about 200 people an exclusive peek into parts of the building tonight for a fundraiser for the nonprofit Police Activities League. The organization aims to prevent juvenile delinquency by engaging at-risk children with police officers.
As of Tuesday, all spots for the event — which is off-limits to media — were sold out, said San Mateo police Lt. Mike Brunicardi. The city will host a grand-opening event in coming weeks for the press and public to tour the entire facility, he said.
The new building is about three times the size of the old building, built in the 1960s, according to Beyer. Special features include a state-of-the-art holding facility, new security technology and much larger offices.
The total cost of the project is expected to be more than $50 million, more than $15 million more than estimated in 2005, Beyer said. The cost increase was due to changes in the scope of the project and rising costs of steel and cement, he said.
San Mateo voters approved funding for the new headquarters in 1998 with the passage of Measure C. It imposed an extra 2 percent hotel tax with the purpose of paying for capital improvement projects, and specifically new law enforcement facilities like a police headquarters, said city Finance Director Hossein Golestan.
In late 2005, the project received Planning Commission approval and construction began in 2007.
Details of police headquarters:
- Facility is 44,800 square feet
- Located at 200 Franklin Parkway
- Main building will house the city’s emergency-operations center, dispatch and communications, holding facility, and a subterranean firing range
- Station is designed and being constructed to obtain a LEED silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Source: Charles Pankow Builders Ltd.
