TULSA, Okla. — The city officially closed on the property that will serve as Tulsa's first Public Safety Complex.
It's been nearly than a year since a multi-agency headquarters was proposed. Mayor G. T. Bynum explained that this was a situation where sometimes, good things can take time.
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Bynum confirmed, a deal had been reached 'in principle' over a year on the building.
2 News wanted to know what took so long?
"The duration of it is that you had a number of different investment groups, all of whom owned shares of this building," the mayor said. "Since we were getting a really good deal on it, they had to go up the chain of command in each of those investment groups to get their approval and that took about a year to get done.”
The $25.5M sale was funded by Improve Our Tulsa tax dollars, which gave the city's front line workers $45M.
This space, though, Bynum said they had their eye on for some time. He believes it's a necessary investment.
“As soon as we saw the conditions that our first responders were being asked to work in for years in their current buildings, we were embarrassed that the city had allowed it to get to that and we want to fix it.”
Watch 2 News' tour inside the space.
Because of the deal they were able to get on the 288,000 square foot space, there's about $19.5M left over. Those dollars will be used to renovate the space to meet the department's needs.
They will also build a separate garage for firetruck and patrol car maintenance.
Both Police Chief Dennis Larsen and Fire Chief Michael Baker spoke to the need for improvements in their rundown buildings.
“We're also working in what originally was the Tulsa police training center," said Chief Baker. "It was built in the 70s, and our offices are in disrepair. We have security concerns, as the mayor said we have flooding concerns when water is a problem.”
But those concerns are soon to be behind them all.
While it was left in what all have called 'immaculate' condition, work to retrofit the building to each department's needs begins immediately.
A slow move-in will begin after the start of 2025.
"While we bring those effective resources all under one roof, consolidating them in this new complex is an investment in Tulsa’s future public safety and an investment that is going to pay off in great dividends and can not be overstated," said Chief Larsen.
While it will take time, Bynum expects all departments will be out of their old buildings and into the new Public Safety Complex by the end of 2026.
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