Florida Construction News staff writer
The City of Fort Myers will break ground Tuesday on a new $109-million headquarters for the Fort Myers Police Department, a three-storey, 176,000-square-foot facility designed to bring police operations currently spread across multiple locations under one roof.
The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 10 a.m. at 2150 Fowler St. Wharton-Smith Construction Group is the contractor abd The architects are Parker Mudgett Smith Architects (PMSA), working in conjunction with Architects Design Group (ADG) of Winter Park.
The new headquarters will accommodate about 100 to 150 permanent Police Department employees, with an additional 100 officers expected to move through the facility during shift changes. Project estimates indicate about 250 City employees and 50 to 100 visitors and detainees could use the building on a typical day.The facility will include administrative and investigative offices, a crime scene unit, digital forensics laboratories, property and evidence operations, K-9 facilities, SWAT resources and a 911 communications and dispatch centre.
Specialized spaces will include virtual and augmented reality training labs, a Faraday room for digital forensics, drone and unmanned aerial vehicle deployment areas, a vehicle outfitting bay, an indoor firing range and dedicated training areas.
The headquarters will also include 10 kennels for the department’s K-9 units and spaces for the bomb squad, gun intelligence, covert operations, polygraph technicians, fingerprint technicians and evidence teams.
Community-focused functions will include space for juvenile intervention counsellors, child services, chaplains and Group Violence Intervention staff. Public training rooms will be available for programs such as safety and hurricane preparedness, while a dedicated press briefing room will support communications with the media and public.
The centralized facility is intended to allow investigators, forensic specialists, dispatchers, technology teams, training personnel, administrators and officers to work from the same location.
Wharton-Smith was awarded the project in July 2025 and worked with the City and design team through preconstruction and cost development. The process included outreach to subcontractors and coordination with local trade partners to identify value-engineering opportunities while maintaining the planned functions of the building.
The project is the largest commercial building project undertaken by the City of Fort Myers to date.
