Groundbreaking at 1st Pct. site

Ground was broken last week at the future site of the 1st Police Precinct in Baldwin. Eric Mahler, left, and Debbie Pugliese of the Chamber of Commerce helped Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and Baldwin Civic Association members Karen Montalbano and David Viana at the ceremonial start of construction. The $10 million project is expected to take about 18 months.

Christina Daly/Herald

Nassau County officials held a groundbreaking ceremony last Friday for the new 1st Precinct headquarters, at 900 Merrick Road in Baldwin. Deputy Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter, speaking at a meeting of the Baldwin Civic Association recently, said the new facility represented the first major upgrade to an NCPD facility in the past 20 years, and added that the structure would be the model for police stations going forward. The plan, he said, was to use the building for 50 years or more.

The construction, which began a little after 2 p.m. on Nov. 1, is expected to take about a year and a half, and will cost approximately $10 million. The first floor of the 25,000-square-foot, three-story building, according to Ken Arnold of the county Department of Public Works, will be the main interface between the police and the public, while the second floor will house clerical facilities and squad rooms, and the top floor will be mostly taken up by mechanical equipment.

The new facility — which will occupy part of the lot where the Huntington Learning Center now stands — will have nearly 20 more parking spaces than are available now.