University of Idaho plans for police station take step forward

The sale of the Moscow police station to the University of Idaho took one step forward Monday after the Moscow City Council Public Works/Finance Committee expressed support of the proposed $975,000 sale that would allow the university to convert the space into an art gallery, VandalStore and community space.

“It sounds like a great addition to downtown,” Councilor Maureen Laflin said.

The UI College of Art and Architecture rents space for the Prichard Art Gallery in downtown Moscow, but UI Special Assistant to the President Toni Broyles said the university is looking to buy instead of lease.

“We’ve enjoyed our stay at the current home but we think with the 9,000 square feet, we can do more as far as additional gallery work and things while still having a retail presence and really using that storefront on Highway 95,” Broyles said.

The police station is on the corner of Fourth and Washington streets and is on the route drivers take through the city as they travel on Highway 95 from the south.

Broyles said the state of Idaho is seeing an influx of people from out of state and many do not know much about the higher education institutions in Idaho. She said the UI’s presence at the building would be a “prime opportunity” for the university.

“It is important to the university that we maintain a downtown presence with our community and the police station is one of very few available buildings with that large of square footage for us to do a full-scale art gallery and still have some retail,” Broyles said.

Remodeling would be required if the UI does purchase the building and Broyles said it is looking at renovation costs now. She said the university wants the building to look and feel like the rest of downtown Moscow.

The full City Council will consider declaring its intent to sell the police station to the UI for the $975,000 appraised value at its next council meeting, July 6. If the council signals that intent, a public hearing is expected July 19 to determine if it is in the city’s best interest to do so.

If approved by the council July 19, an ordinance would be enacted authorizing the move, and then the sale would move forward as a typical property sale.

There is no target date set for moving into the space should the purchase be finalized, according to a UI news release last week.

The Moscow Police Department is expected to move into its new facility, under construction on the corner of South Main Street and Southview Avenue on the south end of town, in October.

Moscow residents passed a 10-year, $9.64 million general obligation bond in 2019 to fund the construction of a new police station, remodel the current police station for use as an office building and make minor improvements to the Paul Mann Building just east of City Hall.

The city purchased the Sam Haddock Building, on the corner of Washington and Fifth streets, last year from Gritman Medical Park, LLC for $875,000. The city deemed the Haddock Building to provide benefits the existing police station would not and will represent significant savings over the estimated remodel costs of the current police station.

With certain city departments expected to move into the Haddock Building instead of the police station as outlined in the original bond plans, the police station will no longer be needed and the City Council expressed interest in selling it.

The City Council voted in 2019 to prohibit new colleges and universities in the Central Business Zoning District and to disallow the expansion of existing ones in the district, which essentially encompasses downtown.

City Supervisor Gary Riedner told the Public Works/Finance Committee Monday that the UI’s plans for the downtown facility would be allowable in the zoning district.

“Zoning is about use,” Riedner said. “It’s not about ownership.”

Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.