Manassas Breaks Ground On New Public Safety Building

MANASSAS, VA — City of Manassas officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning for the construction of a new Public Safety Facility that will house the city's police department, emergency operations center and the information technology center.

The new facility will be located next to the Grant Avenue Shopping Center, with construction scheduled to take about 20 months. The $49 million project was approved by the Manassas City Council earlier this year.

Manassas police have said the new building is necessary to handle growth in the city's police department. The existing 22,000-square-foot building located at 9518 Fairview Ave. was completed in 1989. Police Chief Douglas Keen said the department has grown by more than 30 officers since the current facility opened more than 30 years ago.

The new facility will provide the department with an additional 15,000 square feet of space. The city purchased the site in 2013 as part of a plan to build a new police facility. Overall, the new four-story building will provide about 72,200 square feet for the combined operations. The project also will include a new two-story parking garage.

The existing public safety building may be used as an administration building for Manassas City Public Schools, according to the city, although a final decision has not been made.

Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, a St. Louis-based architecture and engineering firm, designed the new facility, which will be built on a site where a Safeway grocery store once stood.