Southport police to see another temporary home

The Southport Police Department will soon see a new home, but like its current location, this move will be temporary.

At its April 1 meeting, the Southport Board of Aldermen voted 5-1 in favor of authorizing City Manager Bonnie Therrien to sign a five-year lease for a building to house the city’s police force. The property is 1669 North Howe St., a former bank building near the Southport Walmart.

The department is currently housed on the second floor of the Southport City Hall building at 1029 North Howe St. in the city. The department landed in the space following a third move in a decade. Until 2013, the police department was located in the former Southport City Hall/Brunswick County Courthouse building, moving after the building fell into disrepair. The building remains closed today.

The department then moved to what is now the Indian Trail Meeting Hall, located next to Keziah Park. In 2019, the department moved to its current location when that facility was damaged during a storm.

Last year, Southport Police Chief Todd Coring said the growth of his department and other city divisions meant the police force may need to find a new home. At that time, Coring already had a space in mind: the bank building near Walmart.

Past reporting: The Southport Police Department could move into a former bank. Here's why.

The building offers about 2,500 square feet of space, which is more than double the department’s space in city hall.

Therrien said the move would “allow more space for the police department and also allow city hall to expand into their particular part of the building, which would allow us definitely to have a lot more space.”

Therrien said the lease agreement includes a monthly rent of $5,520.83, not including utilities, for the first year. For each remaining year of the five-year lease, the monthly rent would increase by $130. The lease also includes designated parking, Therrien said.

Mayor Pro-Tem Rebecca Kelley said moving the department to a space with a safe for the storage of evidence “makes a lot of sense.”

Alderman Karen Mosteller noted the city has been searching for a new home for the department for over two years.

“We have places to put them, but they’re not suitable because we didn’t spend money to take care of what we had,” Alderman Marc Spencer said. “I’m going to move forward with this, but it’s short-term money for a long-term need. Bring back city hall.”

Alderman Lowe Davis cast the only dissenting vote, stating she’d prefer to house the department in an unused space the city owns, rather than “spending $160,000 a year on a lease for something that we don’t intend to keep.”

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Therrien said the lease was effective immediately and efforts to get the building ready and the department moved would happen quickly.

Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter/X @jameybcross.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: What to know as Southport, NC police move to new home