Wildwood commissioners moved closer to construction of a $3-million police headquarters Monday night, approving a $416,000 design contract and deciding to seek a bank loan to cover the costs.
The new station will be built on a seven-acre site on the northwest corner of U.S. 301 and County Road 462.
The city bought the site last summer for about $500,000. The original price was reduced after a portion of the site was found to contain a possible sinkhole.
Architect Design Group (ADG) of Winter Park was hired to design the station. The firm, which also is designing an Orlando police station, did some preliminary design work for a Wildwood station in 2013 on a different site.
For the new station, ADG will design a metal building structure on a concrete foundation. The contract covers interior design, civil engineering, landscape design, cost estimating and permitting.
Susan Gantt, ADG’s senior vice president, said the steel structure will be covered with a facade and won’t resemble a steel building.
“I know you can get a lot more bang for your buck with a metal building,” said Mayor Ed Wolf. “I want it done right the first time.”
Gantt said the building will be between 17,000 to 32,000 square feet and some police functions could remain in the existing building.
Wildwood had planned to seek a USDA loan to finance construction, but commissioners decided to seek conventional financing instead after evaluating the terms and costs.
A USDA loan for a 40-year term would cost $6.5 million while a 15-year conventional loan would cost $4.9 million, according to financial adviser James Gollahan. .
Wolf said a shorter loan term with higher annual payments could make city staff pay more attention to the budget.
“We need to look at this a little differently than a newlywed couple would,” he said.
The commission instructed Gollahan to approach BB&T Bank about a loan. If agreement cannot be reached, the project would be open to bidding by other banks.
Gollahan said an expected U.S. Federal Reserve decision later this week to raise interest rates could boost the city’s conventional rate up to 2.7 percent.
