Palo Alto Police Department is moving across town to a new $123.5 million headquarters near California Avenue, but it plans to maintain a presence downtown even after the move is complete.
The department will keep a “small footprint” at the current police station at 275 Forest Ave, Assistant Police Chief James Reifschneider told the Daily Post in an email.
When the city began planning for a new police station in 2015, the main reason proponents gave for the new building was that the station at 275 Forest Ave. wasn’t seismically safe. Keeping police in the building would subject those employees to the very risks city officials were hoping to avoid by building a new station. They also said the station was crowded, though the city never used the mezzanine level of the police station.
A small group of officers will be stationed at the old building and it will also be used to store evidence, Reifschneider said.
He said the city hasn’t told him if it has any plans for the rest of the space. PAPD has been gradually moving staff to the new building since early September. For the time being, the department is leaving its dispatch center at the Forest Ave. station.
Reifschneider said the dispatch center at the new building will open in early 2026, although the department isn’t sure exactly when since it still has to install and test equipment. The new police station is at 250 Sherman Ave., between Birch Street and Park Boulevard.