THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay City Council faces another major spending decision in the months ahead.
Consultants hired to examine the future needs of the Thunder Bay Police Service say it would be more economical to build a new police headquarters than renovate and expand the existing building.
The study by FormStudio Architects determined that it will cost $52 million to construct a police station at a new greenfield location, compared with $64 million to bring the Balmoral Street building to the level that's needed to meet current and future operational needs.
City council will receive the report at its meeting Monday night.
The consultants say the existing headquarters needs at least $10 million worth of work just to meet Ontario Building Code requirements, and that this expenditure still won't result in it supporting even the current operational needs of the TBPS.
The Balmoral Street structure was built in the mid 1980s and extensively renovated in 1992.
According to FormStudio, it needs to be doubled in size to meet future requirements.
A replacement facility would be 10,700 square metres (115,000 square feet) in size, compared with the existing building's of 5,985 square metres (64,000 square feet).
The consultants developed a list of 14 possible site locations for a new building, but narrowed it down to three.
The list has not yet been made public.
