Police HQ to move into store

City OKS construction of new station at closed Kmart store

Redlands is set to have a new Police Department headquarters in four years at a cost of not more than $2.24 million.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Redlands City Council hired Holt Architecture Inc. to design and manage construction of the new police station at 1625 W. Redlands Blvd., replacing the shuttered Kmart store there.

In December 2021, the council approved the city’s purchase of the former Kmart property for $16.1 million. The site had been vacant since 2019.

“I would love to see this police station come to fruition before I leave office,” Mayor Pro Tem Paul Barich told the firm. “You have four years.”

The journey to replace Redlands’ former Safety Hall has been a challenging one for the city.

The former Safety Hall at the corner of Brookside Avenue and Eureka Street closed in 2008 due to unsafe building conditions. The city sold the property in 2016 for $1.6 million, which went into a fund for a new building. Over the years the city has looked at various sites for a new Safety Hall — including near the City Yard and the Citrus Center building on State Street — before settling on the Kmart property.

With the location settled, the city started looking for a lead architect for the project in June 2022, and the Police Department along with staff from the city’s Facilities and Community Services department, recommended Holt Architecture for the job.

According to the company, the design process will take an estimated 46 months. This includes a year to design, and nearly another year for city reviews and planning. Construction would take two years. Holt Architecture, based in Rancho Mirage, has worked on similar public safety facilities in Ontario, Jurupa and Beaumont.

The design team will work with the city to create the new police station, while working to keep costs down, officials said. Converting the Kmart store rather than building a new facility is expected to help keep costs in line with the budget, according to Assistant City Manager Chris Boatman.