City Officials Break Ground Last Week For New $43,700,000 Public Safety HQ

(l to r) Police Chief James T. Butts, Mayor Pam O'Connor, City Councilman Kevin McKeown, City Manager John Jalili, Fire Chief Ettore Berardinelli and Architect Daniel L. Dworsky.
photo by Ed Burns

Mirror Staff

   On Thursday, August 12, at noon, the Santa Monica Police and Fire Chiefs, Mayor, a City Council member, the City Manager and the architect hoisted goldtone shovels in a ground-breaking ceremony, signaling the commencement of construction of the new $43,700,000 118,000 square-foot public safety facility which will rise behind Santa Monica City Hall and overlook the Santa Monica Freeway. 
   The four-story building is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2001. It will house Police Headquarters, the jail, Fire Administration, the Emergency Operations Center and the Police and Fire Communications Center. 
   Designed by Dworsky and Associates to complement the landmark City Hall, the new structure has an atrium at its center, a photovoltaic covered glass ceiling and a two-level subterranean 100-car parking garage. 
   Three large back-up generators will power the entire facility with enough fuel to run for 72 hours. UPS power will also be provided in areas where it’s necessary to maintain security and to secure data. 
   Leading edge technologies will be utilized in the evidence processing and identification areas, including digital photo imaging, vacuum metal deposition and fingerprint processing.