MINNEAPOLIS (KFGO/WCCO) – The Minneapolis City Council has approved a plan for a downtown building to serve as the home of Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct.
Several floors of the old Century Plaza Building near the Convention Center will be purchased for $25 million and rehabilitated to accommodate the officers.
The idea came this summer after pushback from residents in the area of the old precinct in south Minneapolis that was burned down during the riots following the police murder of George Floyd. There was no consensus as to where to put a new facility, so this location was seen as a compromise just on the outskirts of the precinct’s boundaries.
The building is already being renovated for the First Precinct to move there. Both precincts should be moved in by 2025.
While some originally hinted that this would be a short term fix, the amount of money being spent on the new location may suggest otherwise.
The City Council already voted not to rebuild the burned out Third Precinct in its current south MInneapolis location. During the George Floyd riots, the building was overtaken by protestors and set on fire. The building was a target of those protestors for several days before they eventually breached a barrier set up by police.
Council members have expressed concern for public safety in the area, but it became clear that the community didn’t want the department to rebuild the precinct. Some said more time is needed to “heal” in the aftermath of Floyd’s killing.
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