Medford Awards Contract For Police HQ At 3 Percent Under Budget

MEDFORD, MA — Medford has awarded the contract for its new police headquarters to Waltham-based developer CTA Construction for $17,860,000, the city announced Friday. CTA's bid was the lowest received by the city and came in at 3 percent under budget, officials said.

Construction is slated to begin next month and continue through the fall of 2020.

"After months of discussion, the reality of our new police station is coming to fruition," Police Chief Jack Buckley said in a statement. "The hard-working men and women of the department will benefit greatly from the features of the new facility. Everyone is excited."

The project team includes Context Architecture and Daedalus Projects, which will manage construction alongside the city. Once complete, the facility will include up to date offices and conference room spaces for the police officers, a new combined dispatch center, extensive storage for evidence, a fitness center and modern detention facilities.

Mayor Stephanie M. Burke said Friday she is "excited" for construction to begin.

"The ground is prepped, the bid is complete, and now it’s time put the shovels to work," Burke said.

A portion of the building's electrical load will come from solar panels on the roof. The entire building has been designed to be energy efficient and will have lower operating costs, according to the city. It will not burn any fossil fuels, instead using a heating and cooling system with heat pumps and an energy recovery ventilation system.

"Building fossil fuel-free, low-energy buildings today is an important part of meeting our
goal of being net-zero by 2050," Burke said. "We were thrilled to find out that there were negligible added costs for making this building highly efficient. We will see an immediate savings
on our operating costs, compared to only being a code-compliant building."

There will be a groundbreaking of the new police headquarters on Friday, April 26th at
11 a.m.