Raleigh to move police HQ

To accommodate construction of a new police headquarters downtown, the Raleigh Police Department will move several divisions to a north Raleigh office building next fall.

Posted 4:38 p.m. Nov 13, 2008 — Updated 4:51 p.m. Nov 13, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. — To accommodate construction of a new police headquarters downtown, the Raleigh Police Department will move several divisions to a north Raleigh office building next fall.

The city bought the former Builders Mutual Insurance building, at 6717 Six Forks Road, to serve as a temporary headquarters while the Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center is built on the corner of Hargett and McDowell streets downtown, where the police department's offices now sit.

Chief Harry Dolan's office, administrative services, the detective division, field operations, police records and an information desk will move to the 46,000-square-foot building. Dolan said five of the department's six substations will remain in their current locations across Raleigh, and the downtown substation will move from police headquarters to 218 W. Cabarrus St. next fall.

"The move of police headquarters to this (Builders Mutual) building is necessary to accommodate this major initiative to advance Raleigh's public safety capabilities to the highest level," Mayor Charles Meeker said in a statement. "The public safety center will enhance the city's ability to consolidate public safety operations and other local government offices and functions in one location."

The 17-story, 305,000-square-foot public safety center also will house the headquarters of the Raleigh Fire Department, the Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center, a traffic control center and a data center. The project is expected to cost $226 million.

The city paid Builders Mutual Insurance and the North Carolina Home Builders Association more than $6.2 million for the Six Forks Road office building.

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