City to Celebrate Pending Start of New Kirkland Public Safety Building

Editor's Note: The following is a city of Kirkland press release.

----

KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Kirkland City Council invites community members to the “renovation celebration” for the future Kirkland Public Safety Building on Friday, May 17, 2013, 10 a.m. 

City officials will speak to the importance of the new facility which co-locates the Kirkland Police Department and Kirkland Municipal Court.  The event will be held on site at 11831 120th Avenue NE.  Project team members will be on hand to answer questions about the building renovation.  Light refreshments will be served.  For information about the project, go to www.kirklandwa.gov/publicsafetybuilding.

“The City has long planned for a new public safety building that would better serve the community’s needs and have a central geographic location within the city,” notes Mayor Joan McBride.  “We anticipated the need for a more well-designed relationship between our Police and Court services with such a building prior to annexing more than 30,000 new residents in 2011 and we are pleased it’s becoming a reality.”

In 2010, the City purchased an existing 100,000 square foot building in the Totem Lake Business District to be remodeled to house police, corrections, and court personnel.  The purchase and retrofitting of an existing structure rather than building a new one resulted in significant cost savings.  The building will enhance operational efficiencies between police and court functions, reduce inmate transport costs, and increase public parking for Municipal Court clients and jurors.  An updated crime lab and community meeting space will be included in the new facility. 

The award of the construction bid is expected mid-May with construction anticipated to begin in June.