Plan unanimously approved for state-of-the-art Hollywood Police headquarters
MIAMI - A new state-of-the-art Hollywood Police Department is one step closer to breaking ground.
The city commission unanimously approved the site plan this afternoon. It comes 6 years after residents said yes to a bond issue to replace the current, outdated police headquarters.
"The Hollywood Police Department has been inside this building since 1974, that's 50 years we've been in this building and we've really outgrown the building," said police spokeswoman Deanna Bettineschi.
In that time the department's gone from 227 officers then to 342 now. The new 3-story building will be nearly 100,000 square feet, going up behind the current police department, where a driving range currently stands.
"The new building will be state of the art. It will take this building from the 70s and push it into the future and give the police dept the things they need," said Nicole Heran. She is the deputy director of Design and Construction Management for Hollywood. She said the new facility will replace the smaller, current real-time crime center with something more up-to-date. It will also include a police shooting range and will be one-stop shopping for residents.
"We really looked at the first floor as a place where the community could come, convene, speak to an officer if needed, do a transfer of child custody situations, get some records and archives," she said.
During Hurricane Irma police had to evacuate the building. The new one will be hurricane-hardened.
"We put in certain aspects of the building so the police can stay before, during and after the storm. And it will be up to code to withstand a level 5 hurricane," Heran said.
If everything goes as planned groundbreaking is expected around September, however, several city commissioners are hoping it can happen sooner.
