Police HQ to be demolished
’22 millage extension to fund new courthouse on LR site
The former Little Rock Police Department headquarters on West Markham Street soon will be razed now that department personnel have been set up in a new headquarters building across the street.
A new municipal court facility will be built on the site of the old police headquarters located at 700 W. Markham St., Little Rock City Manager Bruce Moore confirmed in an email on Monday.
Construction of the new courthouse is expected to be bankrolled by bond proceeds tied to a 2022 millage extension.
The groundwork was laid years ago for the changes along the stretch of West Markham Street, a locus of city government offices.
In the fall of 2017, the Little Rock Board of Directors approved the purchase of the McFadden Building located at 615 W. Markham St. for what is today the new police headquarters.
Construction tied to the new headquarters got underway in early 2021, and police officials moved into the building last year.
The new headquarters is home to the department’s much-touted, real-time crime center.
At a meeting later this month, the city board is scheduled to take up a measure intended to clear the way for demolition of the old headquarters.
A proposed resolution on the city board’s Aug. 15 meeting agenda would authorize the city manager to enter into a contract with The Griffin
Group LLC, for the firm to raze and to remove the old headquarters and an annex in exchange for up to $299,950, according to meeting materials.
Constructing a new municipal court facility where the police headquarters used to be will allow judges and staff to move out of the existing, aged courthouse located at 600 W. Markham St.
A new municipal court facility was one of six categories of capital improvements Little Rock voters authorized
during an August 2022 referendum on whether to extend three mills and issue up to $161.8 million in bonds.
In the lead-up to the referendum, the three judges presiding over the Little Rock District Court underscored the need for a new courthouse.
“We try to ensure that those who appear in front of us leave with an appreciation for the fair administration of justice,” Judges Vic Fleming, Mark Leverett and Melanie Martin wrote in a letter at the time. “But for most, the main impression they get is an old decaying building with inadequate facilities. They feel disrespected by the premises. This is understandable.”