Police department getting new headquarters

The Philadelphia Police Department is getting a new home.

The city is closing a deal to purchase the old Sunflower building located between Main Street and Beacon Street. The agreed price is $262,171.

Part of the building once housed the Neshoba County District Attorney’s Office and before that, the offices of the Community Development Partnership.

The Mayor and Board of Aldermen voted to make an offer during an executive meeting on June 12, pending the attorneys doing a title search and other work. The deal is near, officials say.

“Our plans are to move our police department into the building within the month to a month and half,” said Mayor James A. Young. “We have some repairs and renovations to do to the building but nothing major.”

Young said city leaders have been talking about a new location for the police department for a couple of years.

“The building they are in is old and we have tried to patch it,” Young said. “We have put a new roof on it. It was tolerable but it really needed a lot of internal things done, Then this opportunity came. We decided if we were going to invest any more, let’s put it in something that is going to last another 20 years or more.”

The current police station was built in 1936 and originally housed the Post Office. It was placed on the National Registry of Historical Places in 1995.

“This means a lot to our department,” said Police Chief Eric Lyons. “This city is growing and so is the Police Department. It will give us more room. We will add an integration room and a training room. We will have more office space and better parking.”