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Marylou Berg, Communication Manager, 240-314-8105
Groundbreaking Ceremony Set for March 28 to Celebrate New Rockville Police Headquarters
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 14, 2011 - The Rockville Mayor and Council will host a groundbreaking ceremony at 6 p.m. Monday, March 28, for the new Rockville City Police Department headquarters. The event will take place at the new headquarters, which is the site of the Old Post Office building, located at 2 West Montgomery Ave. in Town Center.
At their Feb. 14 meeting, the Mayor and Council authorized City staff to award a nearly $6.4 million construction contract for converting the Old Post Office building at the corner of South Washington Street and West Montgomery Avenue into Rockville's new police station.
Costello Construction, based in Columbia, Md., was awarded the construction contract. The construction and substantial interior renovation is anticipated to last 16-18 months.
The City Police Department is currently located in the basement of City Hall in space it outgrew many years ago. The new station will accommodate the department's current workforce and allow for 10 percent future growth.
The Old Post Office is an 11,415-square-foot historic building. The reuse plan, including the 14,538-square-foot annex, which will be a freestanding building on the southwest corner of the site, has already been approved by the Maryland Historic Trust and the City's Historic District Commission. Key portions of the Post Office exterior and the historically significant lobby will be preserved and enhanced.
The City is anticipating a $224,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the cost of an emergency generator to provide electricity to the police station in the event of an outage. In addition, the State of Maryland has provided grants in the amount of $319,875 to support the project.
The Post Office building and site was deeded at no cost to the City by the federal government with the stipulation that the building would be permanently used for a Homeland Security-related purpose.
