The Brookhaven City Council approved June 25 a nearly $15 million contract with BM&K Construction & Engineering to build its new public safety headquarters and municipal court building overlooking the Peachtree Creek Greenway. A groundbreaking is scheduled for September with the building expected to be completed by summer 2021.
The new three-story building will more than double the size of the space the police department and municipal court are currently using at 2665 Buford Highway. The city is paying about $300,000 a year to lease and maintain the current facility.
The city issued $12 million in bonds last year to front the costs to build the new facility. Another $3 million in SPLOST funds was approved by the council at the June 25 meeting to cover total construction costs.
The council also approved an additional approximately $4 million in budget amendments to pay for outfitting the building with furniture and equipment, to pay off debt, and to hire a project management firm. Lowe Engineers was awarded a $400,000 contract to be project manager over construction of the new building.
“Congratulations to the staff for getting this done,” Mayor John Ernst said. “Having our own police and courthouse will be fabulous for the city.”
The new headquarters will go on about 19 acres of land at 1793 Briarwood Road, behind Northeast Plaza and adjacent to a where a trailhead for the Peachtree Creek Greenway is now under construction. The new facility will be more than 33,000 square feet and have 168 parking spaces.
The city purchased the Briarwood Road property for $2 million. The funding to buy the land came from $10 million Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta paid the city to abandon right of way on Tullie Road and Tullie Circle where CHOA plans to build a new hospital.
The lower level of the new public safety and courthouse building will include a place for inmate intake and evidence storage, as well as a community room and public restrooms that will be accessible from the Greenway.
The first floor will include a public lobby and service area, the courtroom, city clerks’ offices, judges’ chambers, police administrative offices and a police training room.
A second floor above the police station side of the building will include other police services. A future expansion of 5,000 square feet adjacent to the second-floor police station space is planned, but no timeline or what it would be used for is known, according to the city.