New Minneapolis Third Precinct police station could open in early 2025, commissioner says

A new Minneapolis Third Precinct police station — and adjoining “community safety center” — could open before the end of March 2025, city officials said Wednesday.

“It is aggressive,” Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette said of the timeline in a media briefing Wednesday.

The task of finding a new, permanent home for police officers serving the southeast portion of the city dates back to the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, when demonstrators and rioters stormed the previous station and set it ablaze.

After a contentious process, the City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey in November agreed to buy an existing building at 2633 Minnehaha Av., blocks away from the previous site, and renovate it to accommodate a police station.

Additionally, Frey and the council committed to creating a new type of facility — a “community safety center” — as a resource for the public. Council members and others have speculated that housing, addiction or mental health services might be offered there.

Many details of what will actually be done to the building remain unclear, but Wednesday’s timeline provided by Barnette and Amanda Harrington, director of design and implementation for the Office of Community Safety, offered the most concrete details yet. Among them:

Now: The city signed a purchase agreement last week with the seller of the privately owned parcel. A due diligence period, including city inspections of the building, will be completed by April 15.

June 1: The sale is scheduled to close.

Between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2025: Both the police precinct station and the community safety center will open.

The delicate process of community involvement — previous efforts have met with a range of responses, with some feeling left out — will continue through this winter and summer, but Barnette and Harrington offered no details Wednesday.

Barnette and Harrington said they didn’t have the final purchase price for the property.

City officials have previously estimated that the cost to buy the property — an existing building and parking lot — and turn it into a police station will be $14 million. The expanded services of the community safety center are estimated to cost an additional $7 million to $8.5 million.