CITY PUSHES ON WITH $190 MILLION TAJ MAHAL POLICE STATION
Despite voters turning down the police station bond on March 10th, city staff indicated last week their intention to proceed with the $190 Million Taj Mahal police station and without any RFP.
When looking at comparative stations currently being built in Florida, the math simply doesn’t add up to get you to this extraordinary cost. Bradenton, a city with 60,000 people, is currently underway building a $35 Million police station. Hollywood, a city with 159,000 people, is building an $84 Million station. Boca has a population in the middle at 104,000 people but is looking at a proposed price of $190 Million.
The City of Boca already paid an architect $561,000 simply to gain preliminary designs for this $190 Million plan for 190,000 square feet. The architect—ADG—developed these designs during the planning phases of the failed government campus plan, and had the station moving west and off its current downtown parcel which Terra/Frisbie was seeking to build two large condo high rises on top of.
Ft. Lauderdale is the only city in Florida that has proceeded with a plan similar in size to Boca’s and they have had serious problems. The project cost ballooned from an initial price of $100 Million that voters expected to pay, to $152 Million. Additionally, a serious structural design flaw emerged during construction that caused the roof slab to bend and cause cracks in a concrete support beam. At one point after a full year into construction one of the city commissioners suggested to tear the entire building down and start over. The city ultimately decided to continue with construction despite questions that arose about water intrusion risks, the necessity of future structural repairs, and whether the building would be safe over the long term. Thus far Ft. Lauderdale has fronted the costs of the millions of dollars of repairs needed due to the design flaw that was the fault of the architect.
Boca is in a strong financial position today, yet embarking on a bloated $190 Million Taj Mahal station with no RFP process could do serious damage to the city’s future. Write to our City Council and tell them to stop Boca’s boondoggle before it’s too late.
PLEASE EMAIL THE CITY COUNCIL
We don’t need Taj Mahal government buildings. Be fiscally responsible with our hard-earned tax payer dollars!
WRITE TO:
Citycouncil@ci.boca-raton.FL.us
CC SAVE BOCA: