Savannah police headquarters temporarily relocating

Posted: Mar 24, 2023 / 06:41 PM EDT

Updated: Mar 28, 2023 / 06:18 PM EDT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Savannah Police Department has the longest continuously active headquarters in the country.

The structure has been here on Habersham Street for the past 153 years. This week, the historic building is getting an extensive makeover.

Cristy Lawrence, Senior Director of Capital Projects Management explained why the building needed an update.

“So it started as a building envelope repair project. There was water intrusion, she said. “You know some mold. Things like that. But once we started looking at those repairs we thought why don’t we go ahead and do some other badly needed interior renovations.”

The capital project’s total construction cost comes in at $7.8 million—the majority of that money coming from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 7— the rest is from the general fund.

Lawrence said, “We’re doing things like upgrading their IT infrastructure, new flooring, creating some new office spaces. Complete replacement of the HVAC system. Repointing portions of the exterior brick.”

Among other numerous interior and exterior upgrades.

This week crews moved items from its headquarters to its temporary location now, at 6600 Abercorn Street.

Lawrence believes the renovations will greatly benefit the work life and morale of all who work at the headquarters.

She told News 3, “The office environment was in desperate need of a renovation of an upgrade. It’s very dated there. It’s dark. So just having a newly renovated space for police staff will, you know, just be a better working environment for them. What they had was really old and maybe a jumbled mess, so this is just upgrading.”

WSAV New 3 saw the moving trucks outside of the building last week.