Potential Building Donation for Future Police Department

Marshfield, WI (OnFocus) – The City of Marshfield is exploring the possibility of relocating its Police Station following a donation offer from the owner of Wildwood Plaza. The 23,400 sq. ft. office building at 2504 S. Central Ave., commonly known as the Buffalo Building, has been vacant since its previous tenant left in 2022.

If the donation is accepted by the City of Marshfield, this would result in a reduction of tax revenue for the City of Marshfield, Wood County, as well as the School District and Secondary Eduction in the community. The City of Marshfield according to a recent presentation at Marshfield Common Council meeting is set to have increasing budget deficit in the upcoming year.

In 2017, the Police Department conducted a space needs study which indicated that they required about 34,000 sq. ft. of space, including additional vehicle garage space, secured evidence storage, and larger training rooms. The current police station, built in 1981 on 1st Street, uses three buildings in the downtown area, with a total of approximately 18,000 sq. ft. However, the layout of the existing building is not functional, with many small rooms and inefficient spaces, and the current site cannot accommodate an expansion of that size.

The Wildwood Plaza building has been inspected by City employees, who found it to be in satisfactory to good condition and potentially suitable for a police station. Based on the 2017 space needs study, the building can accommodate the Department’s office, storage, administrative, investigation, and training needs. However, a garage would need to be built to accommodate the Department’s vehicles.

The City of Marshfield is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide a site and building assessment for the possible relocation of the Police Station to 2504 S. Central Ave. The scope of the project includes verifying the space requirements identified in the 2017 study, evaluating the Wildwood Plaza building, providing cost estimates for remodeling and construction of a garage, analyzing the building’s life expectancy, and estimating future maintenance and replacement costs for the next 20 years.

The move to the Wildwood Plaza building would also align with the City’s vision for the 2nd Street Corridor Project, as the current buildings used by the Police Department are in critical areas of the project. The sale of the property could result in revenue for the City or the city would have the option to use the 3 spaces currently used by the Police department for public parking or green space after paying to have the structures demolish.