Jul. 18—HIGH POINT — The arrival of fall later this year promises to bring a new era for the High Point Police Department.
The police will move into their larger headquarters on Westchester Drive by the first of October, if the current construction schedule holds. Crews are in the final stages of work on the $19 million, 76,000-square-foot building and should finish at the end of August, police Lt. Matt Truitt said.
"It appears that we're on track," Truitt told The High Point Enterprise. "We feel fairly confident about Aug. 31 being the final completion for everything."
The police will move in through stages during the month of September, meaning officers should start operating out of the new headquarters around Oct. 1.
The new headquarters will replace a decades-old office on Leonard Avenue east of downtown. The new four-story headquarters has three times the space of the current, single-floor office, which is 26,000 square feet, and the number of holding cells will double from two to four.
The new location will have 194 parking spaces for employees and 34 spaces for the public.
"We have 100 parking spaces at most in total at Leonard," Truitt said.
The police will handle the move internally instead of hiring a moving company, which Truitt said will save the city several hundred thousands of dollars. The move will be accomplished in stages through September, which will allow for completing the task without affecting law enforcement service to the community.
"We have an allotment of one week per floor," the lieutenant said. "We will start with the fourth floor and work our way down.
Once the move is completed, the police will discontinue using the Leonard Avenue office, Truitt said.
Truitt said the police department and city of High Point have tried to use the new headquarters construction to support local companies and put money back into the area economy. The general contractor is Samet Corp., which has an extensive High Point presence.
The project has involved vendors with local ties, from contracts for signs to locksmith service to furnishings, Truitt said.
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul