Bradenton Conducts Site Work on New Police HQ

By Lisa Neff

What’s the intel on activity on Bradenton’s Sixth Avenue West between Second Street West and Third Street West?

The construction-related work taking place is for a $33.9 million Bradenton Police Department headquarters.

“Partial site work and garage foundations amount to about 1% of the total contract,” Tiffany Shadik, the city of Bradenton’s public information officer, said March 21.

The modern facility designed by AECOM architects will allow BPD to retire the space adjacent to city hall that it has occupied since November 1998. According to Shadik, the old PD will be demolished as part of a downtown waterfront redevelopment.

Construction of the new headquarters will continue through the year with an opening in 2026.

Land clearing was completed by early March, and, Shadik said, the garage structure is now rising.

“BPD has outgrown its current facility and storage/training space is limited,” Meredith Censullo, BPD’s public information officer, said via email March 19. “The new headquarters will comfortably accommodate offices utilized by administrative services, the patrol division, patrol support (which includes our criminal investigations section, i.e., detectives), the records department, and the property and evidence department. These spaces will have more storage and room to grow.”

Before Hurricane Milton hit in October 2024, BPD evacuated and relocated about 47,000 items of evidence.

Censullo said, “The need to move evidence due to the threat of rising water and high winds demonstrates the need for a modern police facility that will meet our current and future demands.”

The new headquarters also will house what Censullo described as “a (real) Real Time Crime Center.” The current crime center occupies a space previously occupied by dispatchers and “generally isn’t conducive to housing a team of investigators and analysts working around the clock.”

Meeting and training spaces, as well as a dedicated parking structure, also are planned for the department, which has 197 employees, including 129 full-time sworn officers and six part-time sworn officers.

According to cityofbradenton.com, a goal with the project is to build “a centrally located” headquarters that will “elevate law enforcement capabilities, coordination, community policing and outreach efforts.”

Censullo noted that AECOM, which also designed the St. Petersburg Police Department’s HQ, incorporates “the philosophy of ‘community-oriented policing’ into designs, creating community-friendly facilities that are approachable and open while also retaining the necessary level of security and safety for employees and visitors.”

She described plans for an open, airy lobby with access to front-desk officers and the records department, as well as “soft” interview spaces for people to file reports and meet with police.

And Shadik described plans for officers to gather in “an interior courtyard for quiet repose, a coworking hub area with a second-floor outdoor space and a fitness center.”

The HQ will be 50,399 square feet and the parking garage 61,015 square feet.