Work will begin soon on a new location for the Gardendale Police Department and home for other city services.

The Gardendale City Council approved a bid and authorized a contract with Murray Building Company, Inc. to renovate the former Food World location at 1309 Decatur Highway. The winning bid was $2,696,500, and was approved by a 4-2 vote.

Mayor Othell Phillips, along with council members Faith Harper, Alvin Currington and Wendell Phillips voted to accept the bid. Peggy Tumlin and Gary Morris voted against.

The revamped former grocery store site will be known as the Public Safety Center.

Harper was pleased that city residents will have a bigger and nicer building that should last for many years. The current on the corner of Main Street and Fieldstown Road is about a half a century old.

“It is beyond obsolete,” said Harper. “There is not a lobby and you can only conduct business with one person at a time. If we have a planning and zoning meeting, often times we cannot seat everybody. We are out of room and out of space.”

According to tax records, Harper said the current city hall building has about 8,969 square feet, while the new Public Safety Center will have more than 18,000 square feet.

The renovation work on the former store will be extensive. The winning bid includes a new roof, a parking lot makeover, police department, jail, communications, court magistrates’ offices and court. The city purchased the building last fall for $550,000.

The bid also allows for new equipment needed, furnishings and some furniture.

When the city has court day, there are not enough parking spaces. After city hall’s small parking lot fills, visitors usually park next door at Gardendale’s First Baptist Church or across the street at Walgreens. There are 240 parking spaces at the new site.

The renovation project is on a tight schedule because Harper said city workers must vacate the current city hall and police department building by Oct. 12.

The renovation work is scheduled to last 170 days, and there are incentives as well as penalties concerning that deadline.

“We hope to see construction begin in the next three to four weeks, and that should put us in the building by Oct. 2,” said Harper.

The adjacent retail space under the same roof will not be renovated under the current project. City officials hope that the remaining space can be leased out to retailers in the future.

The project will be overseen by Construction Program Management, the same company that watched over the recent library renovation project. The company services include deadlines for each phase of the renovation, as well as scrutinize all construction change orders.

“CPM saved the city $47,000 on the library project,” said Harper. “We’ve employed them on this project as well.”

It will be the biggest construction project since the city built the civic center at a cost of about $6 million, of which $2.3 million remains to be paid. The civic center produces enough income from its programs to pay for its operating expenses, minus staff payroll.