Riviera says goodbye to mold-infested police and fire HQ; firms selected for new buildings

Riviera Beach selected a pair of firms to design and build a fire station on Singer Island and a new Police Department headquarters on West Blue Heron Boulevard, moves that underscore the escalating pace — and cost — of the city's infrastructure renewal.

Core Construction Services of Florida was selected to design and build the new police headquarters, which will replace the mold-riddled headquarters that's part of the decrepit city administration complex at 600 W. Blue Heron Boulevard. And Kaufman Lynn was picked to design and build the new fire station.

The new fire station would be the third such facility Kaufman Lynn has been selected to build for Riviera Beach in recent years.

Mold has sickened some of the city's first responders and become something of a symbol of the city's physical decline.

Riviera Beach voters approved a trio of bond measures in March so the city could raise a collective $115 million for a new police headquarters, a new fire station on Singer Island and parks and recreation facilities.

The city can spend as much as $35 million for the new police department headquarters and as much as $25 million for the new fire station. The remaining $55 million is to go toward parks and recreation facilities.

A six-hour plus meeting on Wednesday, May 8, included some of the tense exchanges that have come to typify Riviera Beach City Council meetings, but that meeting ended as others have in recent months — with the council voting in favor of moving forward with large-scale projects that had been ignored or postponed by previous councils.

"We challenge staff, and we challenge each other," council member Douglas Lawson said. "We're literally moving forward. This is unprecedented."

Scope and cost of the rebuilding underway in Riviera Beach is staggering

The city has already built one new fire station — the $20 million Fire Station 88 at 1920 W. Blue Heron Boulevard. Another, the $20 million Fire Station 87, is under construction not far from the city's current administrative headquarters at 600 W. Blue Heron.

City officials held a "topping off" ceremony on May 3 to commemorate progress on that facility, which is scheduled to be completed by February.

The $40 million for fire stations 88 and 87, combined with the $60 million for the Singer Island fire station and the new police department headquarters, amount to $100 million in project costs.

And yet, the city, which U.S. Census Bureau figures show has a household income of less than $58,000 per year and where 20% of residents are in poverty, plans to spend far, far more.

If the city raises the $115 million approved by voters, that would cost homeowners $292 for every $250,000 in assessed taxable property value, according to city calculations. Residents are already paying sharply higher water and sewer rates, and they can expect to pay more in both property taxes and utilities if the city's building boom continues.

A new water treatment facility, which city officials say is badly needed to replace the current, 66-year old facility, is expected to cost at least $300 million. There is the $55 million in parks and recreation facilities. And City Manager Jonathan Evans has said another $98 million in roadway improvements are needed in the city.

All told, that would be $553 million for new parks and recreation facilities, a new police department headquarters, three new fire stations, roadway improvements and a new water treatment plant.

How and where to allocate much-needed money is challenge for Riviera Beach

It's all too much to stomach for council member Tradrick McCoy, who had urged voters to reject the $55 million parks and recreation bond referendum, decried the escalating costs for the water treatment plant and suggested May 8 that the bid process the city used to select firms for the new fire station and police headquarters will not allow for enough cost controls.

Core and Kaufman will be expected to present design plans and then another set of plans for construction.

McCoy told his colleagues he wanted to scrap that process and start over with one that would have the city be more prescriptive on the front end with the goal of getting an up-front maximum price and saving money.

The current process, he argued, would allow the firms, which know how much voters have approved for their projects, to price their work to soak up all of the available money.

"Just because we have it doesn't mean we need to necessarily obligate it," McCoy said. "You can be guaranteed now that every dime of that $25 million (fire station) bond that we're going to issue is going to be spent. And the same can said of police. This is a terrible process."

McCoy's colleagues, however, noted that the council has had plenty of discussions about the various projects under consideration and how those costs can be covered. And Evans said initiating a new process would eat up at least a year — time when costs would be escalating.

"The one thing I do want to communicate to the board is that every month that goes by, the cost of these facilities go up exponentially," he said. "Since I've been the city manager, I've had to close public works, Fire Station 88, Fire Station 87, Fire Station 86, the police department and the library. Our facilities are in bad shape, and we cannot delay any longer because, invariably, we have no place to put our employees. We are in desperate times right now, and we have to move expeditiously."

McCoy ultmately joined with his colleagues in voting to select firms for the fire station and police headquarters projects.

The fire station is to be replaced and a nearby water storage tank demolished and rebuilt within 42 months of an authorization to proceed. The police department headquarters is to be finished 30 months after Core gets authorization to proceed.

Police headquarters had to be relocated because of leaks and mold

Because of leaks and mold at the police headquarters at 600 W. Blue Heron, the city's police force has operated out of the Port Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Having staff and storage space at the Port Center has been costly for the city. Figures provided by the city's staff during the May 8 meeting show the city spends about $319,000 per month for leased space at the Port Center and about $92,000 for an evidence warehouse there.

At 42,000 square feet and 15,000 square feet for evidence storage, the new headquarters will more than double the capacity of the old building. The new building will also have space for a gun range and tactical training, services the police department currently has to rely on other cities to fulfill.

City's dilemma: $115 million in bond money can't fund much-needed water treatment facility

Current and past police department officials gathered at the old headquarters on Tuesday, May 7, to commemorate its impending demolition.

Evans, Douglas, Lanier and Chief Michael Coleman were among the current and former city officials who took a ceremonial sledgehammer swing at the facade of the old building, which opened in 1978.

Former Police Chief James FitzGerald, who, according to his LinkedIn page, led the department from 1965 to 1992, remembered being excited about moving into the now-shuttered building.

RIVIERA BEACH NEWS: A print shop, with help of Mark Wahlberg's brother, gives work to those who did prison time

"When we came here in 1978, we thought we had died and gone to heaven, though it did leak from the get-go," FitzGerald said.

Lanier remembered working in the building's evidence room as a high school student.

"I remember this facility with fond memories," she said, "but the new facility is going to be awesome."

Added Lawson: "We're going to continue to push this city forward. We're used to doing this. We're putting up buildings."

Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Riviera Beach to tear down mold-infested police and fire headquarters