Architect hired to move police remodeling forward

A major remodeling of city hall’s west end for use by the Eden Prairie Police Department moved a step closer to reality this week.

The city council on Tuesday, Jan. 2, approved the hiring of the Boarman Kroos Vogel Group (BKV Group) for planning and architectural services. The $988,300 contract will provide the city with design concepts, schematics, a final design plan, and project oversight as the city rolls ahead with plans to relocate the Police Department to the vacant west side of the Eden Prairie City Center at 8080 Mitchell Road.

The city invited architectural proposals and ended up with two. BKV Group was the lowest cost of the two, by $200,700.

The Police Department has been in the basement of the City Center since the city purchased the former CPT Corp. building in 1993. In that time, the size of its staff has roughly doubled. Its fleet is parked outside year-round.

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The relocation will not only provide more room for staff, but also provide 68 indoor parking stalls for police vehicles.

The city has set a rough budget of $13.6 million for the project, and believes it can be accomplished without a significant bump in property taxes because debt from older capital projects is being retired at the same time.

The project has been in the city’s long-range capital plan for about seven years.

Rick Clark, the city’s facilities manager, said Wednesday that an exact timeline of the architect’s work remains to be set, but tentatively the city aims to approve a design and open construction bids in time to start remodeling in early 2025.

The area to be remodeled is roughly 100,000 square feet in size, about 25,000 square feet of which is the indoor garage. The space has been vacant since tenants including United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and the Eden Prairie School District moved out.

Remodeling for police use is a challenge because of the security features that need to be added, including holding cells, Clark said.

Once the department has relocated, he added, the city will have about 50,000 square feet of space in the building’s east end that can be marketed for lease to other users.

According to the BKV Group’s website, the Minneapolis-based firm has completed more than 100 law-enforcement projects throughout the country. One that Eden Prairie city officials will tour is a combination police station and public works building that BKV Group has designed for the City of Rosemount and is under construction. The firm is also working on a Chanhassen Civic Campus – a new city hall and senior center – with construction expected this year.