FRPD headquarters project hitting the home stretch

Late December work at what will be the main entrance to the primary building of the new FRPD headquarters. Photos/Roger Bianchini

Front Royal Town Manager Joe Waltz will meet with contractor Dustin Construction on site Tuesday, January 8, to get an update on the status of construction of the new Front Royal Police headquarters. Ground was broken on the approximately $10.3 million project on November 1, 2017.

And while an estimated 50 days of work has been lost to rain in the wettest year on record in many areas of the east including this one, Waltz hopes to get good news from the Maryland-based contractor next week. Contacted by phone on Friday, January 4, Waltz said he was currently working with a tentative completion date in March, though there is hope he might get an earlier estimate at next week’s meeting.

A substantial completion date of December 31, 2018, with full completion by January 31 had originally been forecast – but that was before the record-setting year of rain poured in.

In addition to that complication, Waltz noted that the project had run into the same soil-compacting problem encountered across Kendrick Lane at the West Main Street extended construction at the Royal Phoenix EDA property. That problem has led to the necessity of moving more soil than initially anticipated for the project.

A longer look at work around the main entrance on Kendrick Lane

Movement toward final paving, curb and gutter and grading is currently under way.

According to Town Finance Director B. J. Wilson, approximately $6.3 million has been paid toward the $10.3-million project through a line of credit through the town-county Economic Development Authority (EDA). Dustin Construction’s accepted bid on the construction portion of the project cost was $7.7 million.

The $10.3 million project on Kendrick Lane at Monroe Avenue will result in a two-building, 21,000 square-foot facility designed to accommodate town law enforcement needs for as many as 40 years into the future.

FRPD is currently housed, for the most part, in the old WCSO headquarters on Jackson Street at a cost of just over $4,000 a month.  The town police moved into that 7,236-square foot space from the 4,032-s.f. former FRPD headquarters in 2013 due to a combination of space and contamination issues discovered during work on the West Main Street headquarters. The FRPD Investigations Department is currently located in a portion of the Comcast building across South Royal Avenue from the old town hall.

An artists rendering of the main entrance presented to council prior to final approval of the project.