The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday approved a $14.8 million contract to build a new forensics laboratory in a city-owned downtown office building at 125 Elm Ave., replacing the police department’s 25-year-old facility in West Long Beach. With design costs and other contingencies, the entire project is expected to cost $19.8 million.
Public Works Director Josh Hickman said construction should start this fall and finish by spring 2028. The new facility will be on the third floor of a building that’s already home to a senior center and the city’s new energy department.
According to plans unveiled in a presentation Tuesday night, the facility “will provide a modern, state-of-the-art” lab with evidence processing areas, evidence processing areas and storage, laboratories and office space.
Crews will also install new room dividers, replace ceilings and upgrade the building’s electrical systems and plumbing, officials said, as well as renovations to the roof and parking structure. A space will be set aside on the floor for a future DNA lab in an upcoming project, Hickman said.
The forensic unit, which analyzes and tests evidence gathered at crime scenes, has since 2001 operated out of a 17,400-square-foot warehouse at 1400 Canal Ave. that the city was renting but now plans to buy in an attempt to save money.
The city says it’s paying $28,966 per month on a month-to-month basis — 25% higher than the previous rent — since its lease expired in April. Negotiations for a short-term lease extension have failed, officials said, while terms of the lease require the city to pay for substantial restoration work as part of moving out.
Considering those costs, the City Council also approved the purchase of the building for $6.4 million, using “idle cash in the Capital Projects Fund Group” that must eventually be covered by selling the building or issuing debt.
The crime lab construction is set to be covered mostly by $12.5 million in bond financing that the city plans to put before council members this fall. Using current interest rates, the city says it could expect to pay nearly $764,000 to pay back that debt over the next 30 years.