New digs in the works for University of Washington police
May 5, 2015, 4:22 PM | Updated: May 6, 2015, 5:54 am
The University of Washington Police Department is getting some new digs thanks to the 520 bridge project. (Image courtesy of the University of Washington Capital Projects Office)
(Image courtesy of the University of Washington Capital Projects Office)
The University of Washington Police Department is getting some new digs thanks to the 520 bridge project.
Construction of the site just south of Gould Hall is underway. Digging for the building’s foundation began this week.
“This project will provide a new, upgraded UWPD facility in a more central location that will facilitate greater accessibility to the University community,” said UW Capital Projects Project Manager Ken Kubota.
Related: What are they building?
The side of the new department will occupy a portion of the W14 parking lot and the 3945 and 3937 buildings on 15th Avenue NE. It will be located next to the growing and “increasingly lively” west campus and near a primary campus entrance, according to Kubota.
The project became a reality, in part, because the 520 bridge is taking land at the Arboretum. The Washington State Department of Transportation was looking for replacement recreation land as mitigation, Kubota said. WSDOT purchased the site of the current police department to be used as open space.
The current police department is housed in the Bryants Building, located off NE Boat Street. The building was constructed in the 1940s out of heavy timber. The department occupies a portion of the 26,800-square-foot building and an 8,500-square-foot garage.
The Bryants Building also houses Parking Violations & Transportation Services.
The design for the police department’s new building calls for a two-story building with a basement. It will be approximately 29,000 square feet with surface parking and carports.
Plans include space for police offices, a dispatch and communications center, records storage, evidence room and lab, suspect processing and temporary holding, interview rooms, report-taking rooms, juvenile waiting rooms, police lockers, fitness rooms, a community multipurpose meeting/training room, and fleet parking.
After the department makes the move, Bryants Building will be the site of a park. The park will be designed and operated by the City of Seattle.
Funding from the sale of the Bryants Building site will be used to pay for the new police department. The project has a budget of $19.5 million.
The project is expected to be complete July 2016.
The police department adds to the growing list of projects on campus. That includes construction of a new UW Animal Research facility that is expected to be complete by 2017.
