City announces plans for new police headquarters

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - The Kenney Administration announced that it will transmit an ordinance to City Council on Thursday to relocate the Philadelphia Police Department headquarters to 400 N. Broad St. The location was once the home to the Inquirer and Daily News.

According to the city, the site is approximately 100,000 square feet larger than 4601 Market St., the location that was previously identified by the Nutter administration for the site of new Public Safety Headquarters.

"After evaluating several different sites and weighing all the different considerations for over a year, we came to the conclusion that this space would provide the taxpayers more for their money," said Mayor Jim Kenney. "Not only can we locate more units in one space, but this location is also more accessible to the public and it creates fiscal and operations efficiencies for the City and our criminal justice partners."

The city says the additional space will enable several more units to be located at one common facility, including the 6 th and 9 th Police Districts, unified Fire/Police communications, the Medical Examiner's office and its toxicology lab, and miscellaneous police units (Homicide, Human Resources, Command Center) in addition to the Police Administration Building.

The developer for the project is 400 North Broad Partners and the contractor will be Keating Builders.
The city will earnestly pursue development opportunities for the Market Street site, issuing a Request for Qualifications to develop 4601 Market St. early this summer. The city expects to select a developer for the site by the end of the year.