AGAWAM — Moving the Police Department into the former Hub Insurance building would cost the town $11,628,078, a consultant told the Agawam City Council at a May 9 workshop meeting.

The council was slated to vote on the proposal on May 16.

Jim Hanifan, from Caolo & Bieniek Associates, told councilors that his firm finished its cost estimates on May 4. The council had unanimously voted in March to pay Caolo & Bieniek $28,800 to study how much it would cost to convert the building at 1070 Suffield St., Agawam, into a modern police station.

The building has already gone through one major conversion, becoming an office building after several years as the Oaks banquet hall. When it came on the market, Mayor William Sapelli and Police Chief Eric Gillis saw potential to renovate it as a police station, reusing some of the existing office space.

Amenities that would have to be added to the Hub building include a secure main entrance, male and female locker rooms with an adequate amount of space, a secured evidence lab, a new radio and 911 dispatch room, a secure booking area and holding cells, installation of a new generator and transfer switch electrical room, additional garage space and more.

“When putting together a chart of what is needed, we looked at what will be the needs in 10-20 years,” said Hanifan.

The cost estimate includes $7.73 million for construction, $1.75 million in moving costs, and a previously negotiated $2.15 million purchase price for the property. The construction costs include a design contingency margin of 20 percent, construction contingency of 10 percent and 6 percent margin for escalating costs.

“I believe I know this answer, but I am asking for a resident here, what would the price difference be if we rebuilt an entire new building?” asked City Councilor Cecilia Calabrese.

Sapelli said new construction would cost $11 million more than the renovation proposal.

Moving into the Hub building would allow the town to avoid spending money on electrical, plumbing and heating systems, the parking lot, outside walls and the roof. In response to a question from Councilor Dino Mercadante, Hanifan said the town could maintain the current roof warranty as long as it uses the original installer for any modifications during renovations.

The Hub building has 17,820 square feet of space and was built in 1987 and renovated in 2010 and 2018, compared to the current police station’s 13,900 square feet, having been built as an elementary school in 1916 and converted to a police station in 1987.

Echoing comments made to Reminder Publishing by Gillis earlier this month, Hanifan said it’s clear that the Hub proposal would yield a more efficient floor plan than the current police station at 681 Springfield St., Feeding Hills.

“Evidence is spread all over the building, which is something we cannot have,” Hanifan said. “Moving something as important as evidence through the building with a cart is a problem waiting to happen. We want to create secure areas, a better communication center, a 911 center, booking and holding spaces that comply with DPH,” regulations from the state Department of Public Health.

“The current police station has deficiencies,” Hanifan added, including “inadequate locker room space for the staff, which leads to not enough space to store equipment and supplies, not enough space to meet the programming needs, a lack of administrative separation, limited areas for conferences and interviews, sally port inadequacies, and [an] undersized impound area.”

The conceptual layout was completed on April 2, and then on May 4, the final study and cost estimate was completed.

Sapelli said the property may eventually accommodate a public safety complex, and he had looked at including space for an ambulance and perhaps some firetrucks in the Hub building. He said it turned out that the existing building would not have enough space to fit the Fire Department’s needs — a three-bay fire station with sleeping quarters for firefighters on duty — along with the police’s.

“To add the space, it would double the cost,” said Sapelli. “I made the decision to go forward with the first plan to solely put in the police, and then eventually add the Fire Department to it.”

The council was slated to vote on the project on May 16. If it passes, officials envision a construction contract being awarded in summer 2023, and construction beginning in April 2024, lasting nine to 12 months. The cost of the project would be bonded for 20 years.