City Paying Nearly Twice Appraised Value for Site of New Police Headquarters

A close 5-3 vote Thursday by City Council approved the way for the city to purchase a piece of property that will be used for the future St. Petersburg Police headquarters. 

In July, two separate appraisal firms valued the property at $351,000 and $343,000,  respectively.

This week, city staff announced the seller has agreed to sell the property for $600,000.

(In August 2011, the city had tried to buy the property, and offered $353,000 for the parcel, but was rejected. It made a counter offer of $1.64 million.)

The property has 14,070 square feet of building space, according to city documents, and is located just north of the existing headquarters on 1st Avenue North. After buying the property the city can vacate a nearby alley and right-of-way to add 41,321 square feet to the property. 

According to city documents, this extra vacated space is crucial to the development of the new police headquarters. 

"The ability to vacate the rights-of-way is a critical element needed to attain the development potential of the site," the report said. 

Council members Wengay Newton, Jeff Danner and Leslie Curran voted "no" on the proposal. 

"I don't understand why we'd pay twice the appraised value," Newton said. 

City staff said the appraised value does not include the property with the change of access for the alleyway. 

City Attorney John Wolfe said buying the property over the appraised value is still be less than seizing it through eminent domain. 

"The upside is that when you actually take the appraised value and add the right of way it's really, for the taxpayers, a good deal," council member Karl Nurse said.  

"We need the property if we are going to build the police station on this site," Mayor Bill Foster said before the vote Thursday. " ... Bottom line, we gotta have it and it’s not going to get any cheaper." 

, budgeted not to exceed $40 million, are still moving forward. Request for proposals have gone out and the city staff is expected to select an architect proposal to send to council within 45 days.

The design efforts are expected conclude within a year if not before, according to Mike Connors, with public works. The construction, he said, would commence 12-15 months from now.