Police station timeline, budget on track at former Oaks hall

Date: 11/23/2022

AGAWAM – Mayor William Sapelli told Reminder Publishing the effort to develop a new police station is progressing.

“Everything is moving on target,” he said.

The town completed a purchase of the former Oaks banquet hall at 1070 Suffield St. in June for a price of $2.1 million, and Sapelli believes the allocated $12 million budget to renovate it into a police station is “pretty secure.”

The building most recently housed the Hub Insurance Company.

He noted the construction costs might be different due to “this supply chain nonsense.” If the budget figures change, the City Council would have to approve any revisions, he noted.

That body will bond for $9 million to $10 million, and Sapelli said he works with the councilors as team.

“We talk about the issues,” he said.

The mayor explained that originally the Police Department was housed in the basement of Town Hall. The department moved to the Faolin Peirce School building on Springfield Street when the school closed in 1987. That has been its home since then.

Sapelli said the move in 1987 was supposed to be temporary. As a police headquarters, the former school is “adequate at best,” he said.

He said the advantage of renovating the former banquet hall is that it has an open floor plan.

“It’s kind of a blank canvas inside,” he said. “We will format it for our needs.”

Measuring 18,000 square feet, he noted the electrical and water and sewer connections already exist, saving the town money on the renovation.

“The building is in pretty good shape,” he added. “It will make a very, very good police station.”

Sapelli said to build a new station from the ground up would have cost the town $30 million to $40 million.

The mayor added the architects and the project manager are “locked in.” The construction should start in either late spring or early summer of 2024, he said.

The present building housing the police will be put up for sale. Sapelli said he wants to get it back on the tax rolls. The Springfield Street location makes it attractive, he added.

Speaking of the new police station, he said, “The need is obvious.”