Idaho Springs police and Mayor Chuck Harmon recently got a first look at what will become Idaho Springs Police Department’s new headquarters.
The City recently purchased the former Citywide bank building at 1744 Miner St. in Idaho Springs for $625,000.
Harmon calls it a bargain:. You can’t even buy a house near downtown for that price in a lot of cases, Harmon said.
“Let’s face it, we don’t have a lot of expansion opportunities in the city,” he said. “You almost have to tear something down to build anything.”
Part of the reason Idaho Springs was able to purchase the building was because we were able to offer cash upfront to purchase the building, Harmon added.
To say Chief of Police Nathan Buseck is excited about the new location would be an understatement.
Currently, staff has no locker room, no showers and no interview room, he said.
“If I need to have a private conversation, I need to have that outside in my patrol vehicle,” he told the Courant in a previous interview.
The building offers a centralized location in proximity to City Hall and the Historic District Buseck stated in a letter to council members.
“Modernizing, being a beacon for people that are looking for help or need assistance, our foot traffic is going to increase a hundredfold being here,” Buseck said.
Idaho Springs city council members unanimously approved spending $21,410 for a “conceptual design” for the new police headquarters during a meeting Aug.14.
Locker rooms with showers, an interview room, an armory, public waiting room and private offices are some of the features included in the plans Halsey Architecture is currently putting together.
The City is hoping to start the renovation work in the Summer of 2024.
Harmon looks at the new headquarters as an investment in the future of a growing city and increasing tourist destination.
“I think this will serve us for literally generations,” he said.