by Mary Rupert
For residents in the Argentine area of Kansas City, Kan., the groundbreaking today for a new South Patrol police station at 21st and Metropolitan Avenue was the answer to a prayer.
“We’ve been praying for this,” said one resident who is a member of the Southwest Argentine Neighborhood (SWAN) group.
The 6,000-square-foot project is expected to cost about $2.25 million, according to UG officials. Its completion date will be early 2017. Crossland Construction is the contractor and Hoefer Wysocki is the architect.
It is being built on top of a former Superfund site that has been remediated. It was once a silver smelting operation.
The residents have been supporting the new police station, located east of a Walmart Neighborhood Market, for years, attending meetings and showing support for it. Across Metropolitan Avenue from the new police station location is the Spanish Gardens Taco House. Immediately to the east of the substation location is a capped-off area of a remediated property, and down the street to the east is the Save-a-Lot grocery store. To the north are train tracks.
“It’s very important to all of us who live here,” the Argentine resident said.
Pat Dunn, president of SWAN, participates in the group’s crime watch and also has attended community meetings at the existing South Patrol station, which is at a house on South 34th Street, not far from I-635. The existing station is not big enough for the needs of the area, according to residents.
He said with officers coming in and out of the new South Patrol location at 21st and Metropolitan during all shifts, especially at night, it will help with stopping crime in the area.
“I’m thankful to (Commissioner) Ann (Murguia) for everything she has done for this area,” Dunn said. He was among about 100 persons attending the groundbreaking today.
The new South Patrol station, although a relatively small building at 6,000 square feet, will be larger than the existing house that serves as the current station. The new station will be close to U.S. 69 and the 18th Street Expressway.
The new South Patrol police station will have an emphasis on community, said Police Chief Terry Zeigler.
“The building was designed with the idea of encouraging community interaction with our officers,” Chief Zeigler said. It represents the department’s philosophy of shifting to community policing, he added.
The facility includes a large community room that will be available for community meetings, according to Chief Zeigler. Other features of the new building will be Wi-Fi, a report desk, and wireless downloading, used for police cars’ cameras or body cameras.
Unified Government Commissioner Ann Murguia said the project has taken about four years to reach this point.
She said the South Patrol station will be centrally located in the middle of the south side, and she is excited about it. She is looking forward to seeing a crime reduction.
The site takes formerly unusable property and puts it to a good community use. “It’s a great adaptive reuse for a former contaminated site,” she said.
Mayor Mark Holland said this project represents several ideas. The priority of this Unified Government Commission has been to take the success out west and bring it into urban areas, he said.
“We need to represent and replicate the success that we’ve had out west in other urban parts of our community,” Holland said.
He said six new grocery stores have been built in the community, mostly on the east side, in the past several years.
The project also is important in that the commission is studying all public safety departments, including police, fire and sheriff’s departments, he noted.
“We need to rebuild the infrastructure of our public safety as well,” he said. Currently a police study is underway to look at how to better serve the community, he added.
“This facility is the second police station command center that we’ve opened in my tenure in the last three years,” he said. It’s putting the police in the location most effective and accessible for the community, he added. The other location opened was at Indian Springs.
The new Argentine location also helps with development of that area, he added.
“The Unified Government has limited resources. When we spend our resources, it needs to be to leverage larger growth,” Holland said. He added it needs to be the kind of development to be proud of. “When we build quality, it tells everybody that we deserve quality.”
He also discussed rebuilding the fire stations in Kansas City, Kan., a topic that also was part of the fire study.
Commissioner Murguia said this was a historic moment in Wyandotte County.
“The Unified Government doesn’t always invest in new buildings,” she said. Often, in a career, a person may see one new building.
She said this project demonstrates faith in the police department and in the policy to build in the urban core, as well as out west.
Commissioner Hal Walker pointed out that all the commissioners voted for this project. The project moved forward with commission approval in 2014 when it was announced the state of Kansas would grant $400,000 toward it.
The project is financed through tax increment financing (TIF), according to UG officials.
“In terms of impact and quality of life in the community, I think this police command station will be the most significant event to date that we have accomplished in the urban core,” Commissioner Walker said. “To have a real police station visible in an area where the police are accessible to the public and the business community, I can’t help but think the location of this will only be an incentive to bring other developers into the area, and that’s what we want, isn’t it, more development.”
“The community focus is what sets it apart from other police stations,” said Katherine Gallagher, associate architect with Hoefer Wysocki.
She said a large percentage of the space in the station will be devoted to a community area, so one can see that it is important to the police. Plus, there will be more space than the current location for police officers to do their work, she added. The new building has space for about 45 offices. The building will be high-tech, with connections for technology.
“They aren’t going to know what hits them when they walk in the door,” she remarked.
She said it was a really great location that is expected to spur more development.
