New Public Safety Headquarters Opens In Fairfax County

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA—First responders have a new home with the opening of the new Fairfax County Public Safety Headquarters Thursday.

The new headquarters for the Fairfax County Police and Fire and Rescue department replaces Massey, the existing headquarters built in the 1960s. It had also served as the main government center until the 1990s.

It's a nine-story, 274,000 square-feet building on the Government Center campus with 850 parking spaces for public safety vehicles. The building is the 12th LEED-certified operated by the county.

Much of it will be office space, but the first three floors has areas open to the public, including recruiting, interview and testing areas; multi-purpose and training rooms; Occupational Health and Fire Prevention Offices (Fire Marshal); and the Police Department's Central Records Division and False Alarm Reduction Unit. Visitors can also check out a police and fire exhibit space and memorial to fallen officers and firefighters outside.

Fairfax County officials estimated the new building would cost $142 million, compared to $87 million in repairing the Massey building. Officials say it was less cost effective to fix the old building, which experienced recurring power outages and an antiquated cooling and heating system. In addition, it wouldn't be able to accommodate the county's projected future staff increases.

Groundbreaking for the new headquarters began in September 2014. Check out a time lapse of the construction below.