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Council debates future of former police department building: tear down, reface or keep for cold storage
Summary
Muskego alderpersons discussed options for the former police department building — full demolition and parking, partial teardown with refacing for cold storage, or building new cold storage in the industrial park — and asked staff to return with cost, utility and timing details for a decision.
Muskego alderpersons debated whether to tear down the former police department building on the city campus or preserve part of it for vehicle and equipment cold storage.
Scott (city staff) reviewed options, cost estimates and timing. Staff presented an estimated $850,000 to demolish the building and replace the parking area (including pulverizing and repaving the existing asphalt), and an approximate $600,000 estimate to build new cold storage at the DPW/industrial park site. Staff also said re-facing and preserving the rear garage for cold storage would require about the same tear-down estimate plus a smaller reface cost; he offered a rough architect/rendering estimate of $5,000–$10,000 to produce conceptual drawings.
Alderpersons were split. Several members said they preferred keeping a portion of the building for cold storage and re-facing the front to make the remaining portion look intentionally utilitarian; others favored full demolition to create green space or a parking lot and avoid continuing to host cold storage adjacent to the city campus. Alderperson Decker and Alderperson Bryce said they supported retaining some cold storage while Alderperson Dilge favored complete teardown with green space to avoid investing in a new hard-surface parking lot that could later be removed.
Staff outlined timing and funding constraints: the new cold storage project is currently in the capital plan for 2027, and any new tear-down or construction in 2026 would likely require borrowing. Scott said the city could accelerate design and bidding so construction could begin sooner if the committee chose to do so, but doing both a new new cold-storage building and demolition simultaneously would complicate logistics and likely delay one element until 2028. Several alderpersons asked staff to return at the next meeting with: (1) estimates of ongoing costs to keep the existing building winterized, including utilities and insurance; (2) square-foot comparisons between the existing garage and the proposed new building; and (3) an architect’s conceptual rendering and cost breakdown to compare refacing vs. full demolition.
No formal vote was taken; staff will bring back additional financial and design information at a future meeting to support a formal direction to capital planning.
