New Headquarters Is Just the Ticket : Cop-Shop Swap: A Moving Violation It Isn’t

On Friday, most official police business was being conducted from a Spanish-style building on Market Street, now Martin Luther King Way, that served as the police hub in San Diego for 47 years.

By Monday, police intend to be conducting some business at the new, seven-story headquarters at Broadway and 14th Street.

The San Diego Police Department is moving.

Movers began taking material from the old to the new headquarters two weeks ago, and they were still at it Friday.

Police hope the move will relieve some of the complaints of overcrowding and vermin infestation that went with the old building. Arrangements were made to fumigate some files and equipment this weekend before moving them, spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, the new building contains 165,000 square feet, including a rooftop helipad, a crime laboratory, rooms for holding witnesses and suspects, and several training and meeting rooms. The building’s tinted glass exterior is offset by blue, red and gray trim.

Starting Monday, Police Chief Bill Kolender’s office will start operating there, Robinson said.

To a majority of personnel, the move to the $43.7-million building--the largest municipally financed project yet in San Diego--is a change that’s long overdue.

“Some of us have . . . developed a little nostalgia, but the improvement is tremendous,” Robinson said.

One officer, who who noted that drainage problems at the old headquarters sometimes caused odors in the locker rooms, said he believes the move could improve morale.

“You talk about attitude improvement,” said Officer Frank Hoerman, adding that the new headquarters will make it easier “to look forward to come to work.”

Robinson said, “It’s been long coming. It’s a morale booster for everyone involved.”

The old building was erected and occupied in 1939 with funding from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. The facility also served as a jail and for a while as a court. Its jail function was discontinued when the Downtown Jail opened in 1974.

The building was cramped, and some workers had to operate inside abandoned jail cells, and other cells along the old jail corridor were used as storage space, Robinson said.

The department outgrew the old building so much that five mobile homes were brought into the area during the early 1980s to accommodate more employees, he said.

The building was infested by mice, cockroaches and fleas, he added. Other problems included poor parking facilities, poor ventilation and poor lighting.

Starboard Development Co., a private firm, acquired the land under the new headquarters, and designed and arranged the financing for the construction. The city will lease the building and buy it within 30 years.