Minneapolis City Council approves moving police First Precinct for more space

The downtown station will more than double its space when it moves to the Century Plaza building near the convention center.

June 16, 2022 at 8:40PM
Century Plaza, the old Miller Vocational High School, may become new site for Minneapolis’ First Precinct police station. (Kelly Smith, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Minneapolis First Precinct police station will soon move into a portion of the Century Plaza building, more than doubling the space of its current location.

The move was approved in a 8-5 vote by the City Council on Thursday morning.

The downtown precinct is currently at 19 N. 4th St. City officials say the site's 15,000 square feet of space is too small and lacks parking.

The new location near the Minneapolis Convention Center will have more than 35,000 square feet of space and provide access to 180 parking spots. The building at 1101 3rd Av. S. is the former Miller Vocational High School and will be divided up for development. The plan is for construction to begin by the end of 2023.

The total project cost will be about $19 million, according to city documents.

Council Members Elliott Payne, Robin Wonsley, Jeremiah Ellison, Jason Chavez and Aisha Chughtai voted against the relocation. Payne said police relations with the public should take priority. Council Members Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw, Jamal Osman, Lisa Goodman, Andrea Jenkins, Emily Koski, Andrew Johnson and Linea Palmisano voted for the move. Goodman said the problems with the current location need to be addressed.

about the writer

Katelyn Vue

Metro reporting intern

Katelyn Vue is an intern working on the metro team. She is a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota with a double-major in journalism and political science.

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