Peabody Breaks Ground On $70 Million Public Safety Building

PEABODY, MA — Peabody moved one ceremonial shovelful closer to a new $70 million public safety building with last week's official groundbreaking at the site next to Higgins Middle School.

Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt advocated for the new building as a way to "keep our community strong and well-prepared for the future."

"Our investment in a state-of-the-art complex to serve as administrative headquarters to the Peabody Police Department, the Peabody Fire Department and Emergency Management Services will pay dividends for decades to come," Bettencourt said in a statement on the groundbreaking.

The new headquarters will replace the half-century-old building on Allens Way.

"It no longer meets the needs of our outstanding officers, professional support staff and the nearly 55,000 Peabody residents they serve each day," Bettencourt said.

Peabody Police Chief Thomas Griffin thanked Bettencourt, City Council members and other city leaders, as well as the communty-at-large, for backing the building in a way that he said "is a reflection of the exceptional positive relationship between our public safety departments and the community we serve.

"This facility will be an outstanding asset for the city of Peabody for generations to come," Griffin said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)