The Peterborough Police Service says it has secured the Calvary Pentecostal Church building in city’s west end to complement its cramped, aging station in the downtown core.
On Friday, the service and City of Peterborough announced they have acquired the 106,000 square-foot building on 13 acres of property at 1421 Lansdowne Street West.
The building will be used as a second police station for administrative functions, while police operations will remain at the 500 Water Street station, says Mayor Jeff Leal.
The site first went up for sale in 2020 and was listed for $17.9 million on Realtor.ca. as of Friday afternoon. However, the city is paying $15 million, with the deal expected to close in February 2024.
The estimated price tag for a new police station had ballooned to $68 million in 2021 — up from the $49-million estimate two years earlier.
The city says Calvary Pentecostal Church will continue to use part of the building for up to five years, as part of the sale agreement. Renovations to the building are anticipated to take a few years to complete, depending on future council approvals and budget requests.
The city says the site is large enough to subdivided to accommodate additional future uses for municipal services.
“Even with the future renovation costs, this is the most financially responsible path, addressing a critical need,” said Leal.
Since becoming police chief, Stuart Betts has been lobbying for a new police station to replace the existing structure downtown. That 35,000-square-foot building opened in 1968. A police-city committee was launched to look for potential downtown locations for a new single facility.
However, several incidents — including a 35-minute 911 outage in late May 31, 2023 due to an “overloaded and tripped” aging circuit breaker at the station further bolstered Betts’ campaign.
In July, Betts posted photos of himself standing in the station’s flooded parking lot — a regular occurrence during heavily rainfall. He also noted there’s very little additional space in the building to stage a nationally-mandated new digital 911 system that must go into effect by March 2025.
A joint city-police facility review process first focused on a single building in the downtown. However, Betts says the committee changed its focus to two buildings.
“Through the joint city-police facility review process, the thinking on how to meet the need for a new facility for the police service evolved from where it started, which was to focus on one new building,” said Betts. “With the City of Peterborough purchase of this property, the Peterborough Police Service will have two locations. This is important as the city is growing and will continue to grow.”
Betts says the second station is the “most fiscally responsible solution” and aims to meet the service’s needs “for decades” to come.
“It’s expected that the costs of the renovations will be significantly less than the cost of a new-build facility,” he said. “Securing this property and being respectful of financial constraints was important to me and the Police Services Board.”
Betts says he “strongly believes” the presence of a police facility in the downtown area “is a must.”
“There is no intention to leave the 500 Water Street location,” he said. “The current location at 500 Water Street will continue to be the base of operations and investigations.”
Calvary Church pastor, Michelle Mercer, says the church is “pleased with the sale” of the property and says it will benefit all parties involved — including the community.
“It has been a very positive experience working with the City of Peterborough and the Peterborough Police Service through the negotiation process,” said Mercer. “We look forward to bright days ahead for Calvary Church and those overseeing the development of the city we are called to serve.”
— More to come.
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