FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — The City of Fort Myers and the Fort Myers Police Department held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a new police headquarters, beginning construction on a project years in the making.
The new headquarters will be built at 2150 Fowler St. and is intended to bring police personnel, technology and resources into one centralized facility, according to the City of Fort Myers.
SEE ALSO: Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson faces calls to resign over sexual misconduct allegations
The city said the building will centralize operations including investigations, communications, training, forensic services and community support programs.
The project will replace FMPD’s current three-story headquarters at 2210 Widman Way, which the department said was dedicated in 1983.
FMPD said in 2021 that the department had experienced significant growth in its number of officers, administrative and civilian employees since the Widman Way building opened. The department also cited changes in technology, training, vehicles and community engagement as reasons it needed a larger facility.
Wharton-Smith, the project’s construction manager, said FMPD divisions have also been operating from multiple locations. The company said the new three-story headquarters will bring those operations together and include administrative and investigative divisions, a faraday room, a crime scene unit, digital forensic laboratories, property and evidence operations, K-9 facilities, SWAT resources and a 911 communications and dispatch center.
The effort to replace the Widman Way headquarters dates back several years.
FMPD said the city purchased the former News-Press complex near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Fowler Street in September 2019 with plans to convert the property into a new police headquarters.
In March 2021, the Fort Myers City Council approved a $3.07 million agreement with Parker Mudgett Smith Architects for design services related to remodeling the News-Press campus.
That plan was later changed.
According to City of Fort Myers records, initial space-needs planning, master planning and structural analysis of the News-Press property led the City Council to put the design work on hold and seek another location for the headquarters.
The city continued acquiring property for the project, including property at 2115 and 2135 Central Ave. in August 2023.
By May 2025, the city’s plans called for a roughly 176,000-square-foot, three-story headquarters on an approximately 8.5-acre site at 2150 Fowler St., according to documents presented to the Fort Myers Board of Adjustments.
During that meeting, Fort Myers officials said the proposed facility would include training areas, a firearms range, secure operational areas and dedicated areas where members of the public could interact with police staff.
The city also said the facility is being designed to remain operational during severe weather, with redundant cooling and power systems and protections for equipment.