City of Gainesville Police Department Evidence Facility
The project consists of the demolition of the existing evidence storage building and construction of a new three-story, 24,112 square foot facility in its place, a small footprint between the department’s main building and the 6th Street Rail Trail. The structure of the new facility is to be structural steel framework supported by shallow foundations on subsurface ground improvement, enclosed in reinforced CMU walls. The façade of the building consists of multiple materials, including brick, perforated metal panels, metal panel cladding system, and aluminum windows.
The first floor provides evidence intake and processing, property viewing and return, storage, and blood drying. The second floor provides office workspaces, conference room, and bulk evidence storage. The third floor offers additional bulk evidence storage.
The new building will connect to the existing Gainesville Police Department Headquarters Building at the second-floor level via an enclosed elevated pedestrian bridge. Sitework includes relocation of several existing utilities, modification of existing dry stormwater retention areas, limited flexible paving, installation of two new chillers, and an emergency generator.
“For the last few years, we have been busting at the seams,” Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya said of the department’s 95,000 pieces of evidence, and counting. “This affords us the opportunity to really have good control, air-tight control, so that we do not give rise to any issue with our cases for prosecution.”
In December 2025, the Gainesville City Commission approved funding for the $19 million project through a bank loan secured by the Streets, Stations & Strong Foundations (SSSF) Surtax Program. “We’re investing heavily in public safety, and we’re doing it with funding from our half-cent sales tax that goes to infrastructure,” Mayor Harvey Ward said. “Everybody who buys anything in Gainesville, including people who are visiting for football games or anything, helps us invest in our community, for generations to come.”
Client
City of Gainesville
Location
Gainesville, FL
Architect
DLR Group, Monarch Design Group
SF
24,112 SF
