Fort Lauderdale isn’t the only town getting a high-tech new police headquarters strong enough to ride out a Category 5 hurricane.
So is Hollywood.
Both have taken years to break ground and will cost millions. But one is way over budget.
That would be the Fort Lauderdale station, which will be close to twice the size of Hollywood’s at 196,000 square feet.
In 2019, Fort Lauderdale residents were told the new three-story station would cost $100 million, but it’s now costing $140 million, mainly due to skyrocketing construction costs. That’s a 40% increase.
Hollywood’s new 100,000-square-foot headquarters was projected to cost $72.5 million but will cost closer to $84 million, a price hike of nearly 16%. Rising construction costs are to blame, though Hollywood officials say they right-sized the station to keep costs down.
Fort Lauderdale will get its station built before Hollywood.
Fort Lauderdale officials hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday with great expectations that the new headquarters will open in the summer of 2025.
In Hollywood, construction won’t begin until early 2024. The expected opening of the new station and four-story parking garage: Third quarter of 2026.
Photo: Sun Sentinel
The Hollywood Police Department, shown on Jan. 28, 2019, opened in 1975. In recent years, the 48-year-old building has been plagued by leaks and bad plumbing. A new station is in the works.
In March 2019, both Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale asked residents if they wanted to spend millions on new police stations.
Fewer than 5% of the residents in each city said yes, but that was enough.
In Hollywood, the bond plan got “yes” votes from 4,639 people, or 54% of the voters on that referendum item. In Fort Lauderdale, the plan got “yes” votes from 7,005 people, or 63.5% of the people who voted.
After the bond referendum passed, Hollywood officials said their goal was to get the new headquarters built by 2025, the year of the city’s 100th anniversary.
That goal can no longer be met, but the folks who will eventually work in the building aren’t complaining.
Wish list: Working toilets
The rank and file are grateful to be getting a new headquarters no matter how long it takes, said Andrew LaFramboise, president of Hollywood’s police union.
“We’re just excited to move into it, whenever it does happen,” he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “The station we have now reminds me of grandma’s house. It’s old and outdated. Everything breaks all the time. We’re just happy to get a secure building with toilets that work.”
Hollywood Commissioner Kevin Biederman told the Sun Sentinel he’d like to see the station open sooner rather than later.
“The mayor and commissioners are more anxious about the delay than the police,” Biederman said. “I’m the type of commissioner who wants things done now. We make a decision to do something, I want to see it done. I plan to push as much as possible for sooner [than 2026].”
Hollywood’s modern new headquarters will be built on land that’s part of the taxpayer-owned Orangebrook Golf & Country Club, just south of the current station.
Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy says the investment will pay off in the decades ahead.
“This is all upside for the police department,” Levy said. “As far as the timing goes, we are building the station on previously undeveloped property. That required additional time for design and stormwater work and environmental testing. We invested a lot of time making sure the layout of the building is (close to perfect). That was more important than rushing groundbreaking day.”
Cramped and dated
The police headquarters in both Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale are cramped and outmoded for modern times, say those who work there.
Fort Lauderdale’s three-story station, known for its leaky roof, ancient air-conditioning system and tricky elevators, has been around since 1958, a boxy building at 1300 West Broward Blvd.
Hollywood’s four-story station, located west of Interstate 95 at 3250 Hollywood Boulevard, came along nearly two decades later, opening in 1975.
But it has just as many problems as Fort Lauderdale’s, city officials say.
The roof leaks. The air conditioners break. The toilets flood. And just like Fort Lauderdale’s station, the building has to be evacuated when a hurricane is on the way.
One unfortunate disaster made headlines in 2017, when sewage from an upper floor flowed into the evidence room, soaking documents, clothing and DNA swabs after a pipe burst.
The new Hollywood station, with 100,000 square feet and three floors, will be nearly double the size of the current headquarters.
Christine Corbo, who sits on Hollywood’s Bond Advisory Committee, praised the department’s command staff for paring down their wish list to keep costs from spiraling upward.
“The chief and the police team working with the design team were very engaged in helping decide what were necessities and what could be taken off the wish list,” she said. “They pared down the wish list considerably. They even pared down a floor. It was going to be four stories and now it’s three. They really rolled up their sleeves to keep this on track.”
Goodbye Fishbowl
Hollywood’s new headquarters will serve a department with more than 480 employees, including 355 officers or more.
In Fort Lauderdale, the new station will serve a department with more than 750 employees, including at least 550 officers.
Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale both hired Moss Construction to oversee the projects.
Those who’ve seen the renderings of the Hollywood station like what they see.
“I think it will be a landmark site,” said Tom Lander, vice chair of Hollywood’s Bond Advisory Committee. “It’s futuristic, kind of modern space-age. It’s going to be signature architecture. The front of the building is going to be almost like a glass tower. I’m impressed with the design.”
Both old stations will meet the same fate: After their modern-day replacements open, they’ll have a date with a wrecking ball.
But Hollywood activist Clive Taylor, who also sits on Hollywood’s Bond Advisory Committee, doesn’t think anyone will miss the old buildings when they’re gone.
“These buildings are sitting ducks when we get a Cat 5,” he said. “Now is the time to build something that won’t blow away. They call the (current) lobby the fishbowl because when you walk in you feel like you’re in a fishbowl. This new building is going to be like you’re walking into a hotel lobby. It’s going to feel completely welcoming with lots of places to sit. That’s what we need.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan