Hamilton’s two public safety construction projects ahead of schedule

Parker said the project is “progressing along really well,” adding the utilities are installed and “we’ll start some of the paving a little bit ahead of schedule. Here in the next two weeks, the landscaping will start here. It’ll really start changing the look of the site here quite a bit.”

Scrimizzi said the vast majority of the building will be done in early November.

“We’ll have a whole month to take a look at things and get ready before we move in,” he said.

The Justice Center, which is mostly debt-financed and is using $10 million from COVID relief funds, will be the new home for the Hamilton Police Department and the Hamilton Municipal Court. The police department will move in before the courts, Scrimizzi said.

Hamilton Municipal Court will leave a large gap at One Renaissance Center, which is at 345 High St., the downtown home of the city’s local government offices. City Manager Craig Bucheit said officials haven’t yet determined what would happen at that location.

Bucheit, who championed the Justice Center project as police chief, said officials are also looking at next steps with the existing police station building.

“We’re already beginning to market that building for redevelopment, repurposing in the private sector,” Bucheit said.

The fate of the current fire Station 26 in Lindenwald is also not known at this time as a replacement is built on Ohio 4.

The new station will replace the antiquated Laurel Avenue station with a state-of-the-art facility on 2.5 acres. CUC is the general contractor for the $6.2 million project.

Scrimizzi said the Station 26 project is under budget and “a bit ahead of schedule” thanks to good weather.

Parker, who’s also the project manager in this public safety construction project, said they expect to turn over the building to the city in the first quarter of 2025, with a possible move-in date in February.

“The roof is going on ...,” Parker said. “Sitework we’ll start cleaning up here, probably in about two to three weeks. We hope to have that paved here mid-September; they’ll start the concrete paving right after the first of September.”

The current facility, which was built in 1910 at 651 Laurel Ave., is not worth the cost of maintaining. The Lindenwald station was built when fire vehicles were not as big or as heavy, and within the past several years, they completed a project in the basement to shore up the structure under the bays as there were signs of failing.

With larger space and the ability to grow if it’s deemed necessary, the new Station 26 will also have better amenities, including a training conference room, a bigger gym area and individual sleeping quarters.

The last time the city decommissioned a station building was a decade ago when Station 27 was decommissioned. It was sold to a private organization.

Scrimizzi said Fire Chief Thomas Eickelberger is working on a redistricting plan for the city’s five fire stations to evenly distribute call volume. When Station 27 closed, the district was absorbed by Station 25, which has become the city’s busiest.