The town has signed a five-year lease for a Holly Hill Lane office building to house the fire department's administration until the end of the decade, freeing up space for police who are to be displaced by construction of a public safety complex costing more than $60 million.
The town signed a lease Tuesday for a 3,895-square-foot office suite at 75 Holly Hill Lane, which takes effect Jan. 15, Town Building Superintendent Alan Monelli said.
The move is required to use the Central Station to accommodate police displaced by the construction of a combined police/fire /emergency medical service complex at Bruce Place and Mason Street, Monelli said. Police and fire department headquarters are currently adjacent to each other at the site.
The complex is planned to include a 177-space parking garage, a common lobby shared by the police and fire departments, and thousands of square feet in additional office space for police sergeants and detectives.
Monelli was unable to provide the financial specifics of the lease and calls to other officials were not returned, but $291,500 of the $4 million approved by the Representative Town Meeting of Greenwich for the first phase of the project was earmarked for a temporary fire facility, according to town documents.
David Block, first vice president for Stamford-based CB Richard Ellis, the building's owner, said the company has agreed to make minor changes to the space to accommodate the office needs of the fire department.
"We're very excited to have the town as a tenant and hope for a great relationship for the length of the lease term," Block said.
Fire command staff and administration will begin moving into the new space in mid-January, Monelli said, with police moving into the central fire station to allow for the demolition of the police administration building within the first half of 2006. That building houses the offices of the police chief and other command staff, as well as the records and detectives' divisions, Monelli said.
"Everyone in the police administration building will be going into the Central Fire Station," Monelli said.
Amogerone Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1, which also has offices at the Central Station, will relocate to the Byram Volunteer Fire Department, Monelli said.
Town officials said Thursday they expect to have a more accurate estimate of the cost of the public safety complex next month. It is expected to exceed the current $65 million estimate as a result of inflation, they said.
Police administrators are to remain at the Central Station until 2009, when the new police station is expected to be in operation, Monelli said.
Town officials anticipate renovating the Central Station in time for a 2010 opening.
Town officials hope to begin the first phase of work on the public safety facility this winter, and will soon award a $4 million contract to relocate storm sewer and sanitation systems and demolish a commercial building on Mason Street, Monelli said.
Since last month, a group of RTM delegates has asked the town to consider an alternative plan for the town police station, citing the need to see the plan in the context of other plans to provide public parking and recreational facilities, and relocate other municipal offices like the Board of Education.
Randall Huffman, chairman of the RTM's Budget Overview Committee, who is advocating further discussion of the plan, said he was surprised to hear the town was planning to move the personnel so quickly. "We need a careful review of this project and other projects impacting the downtown considering all the other plans proposed for that area," Huffman said.
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