City of Auburn wants feedback on future police headquarters

Published 1:45 pm Monday, May 18, 2026

The current Auburn Police Department headquarters is cramped.

“It’s simply out of space by today’s standards,” Bernie O’Donnell, CEO of Renton-Based Rock Project Management, a consultant, told city officials during an Auburn City Council study session on March 23.

In fact, the headquarters falls 18,000 square feet short of recommended building standards for a police department serving a city the size of Auburn. While staffing is about 150 employees, the city expects its population will burgeon from today’s 90,000 to 114,000 in 2044, and they will need services.

The city wants to hear what the Auburn community thinks about this proposed project, so it has prepared a survey on its website at auburnwa.gov.

In 2023, the city bought a 2.3 acre site for public safety purposes at the northwest corner of 12th Street Southeast and Auburn Way South near Les Gove Park, and that’s where it plans to build the new facility. It will house all four police divisions, a police health and wellness center, and offer parking.

Costs are only anticipated at this early stage of the project, and any numbers are intended for planning purposes only. The Auburn City Council expects consider the next steps through its budget process in the coming years.

The city, which has developed a blueprint for implementing its vision for improving public safety, will identify and propose recommendations for planning, designing and building.

Built in 1946 as Dahlgren Massey’s supermarket, the building closed as Massey’s in the 1980s, became a sports training center, and became the police headquarters and Auburn Justice Center after its conversion in 2003.

Here are the main design concepts for the future APD headquarters, according to the city:

• Modern architecture reflecting Auburn’s community values and history.

• Sustainable design with energy-efficient systems.

• Resilient infrastructure for uninterrupted emergency operations.

• Technology readiness for response and real-time information systems.

• Officer wellness through trauma-informed workspace design.

The future headquarters is currently in the planning stage and the city has not approved yet the final design and construction. City leaders anticipate that the master plan will be completed this summer. At this time, the city is studying how many buildings — one or two — will comprise the center.

The study does not include a new jail, as the city is a co-owner city in the SCORE Jail in Des Moines.

Plans include a Wellness Center, according to the city, because modern law enforcement facility standards recognize that adequate fitness facilities, wellness support services and proper locker room accommodations are essential for maintaining a healthy, effective work force and keeping officers.

The wellness center will provide amenities that will help mitigate the high-stress nature of law enforcement, such as rooms for mental decompression, trauma-informed “soft” interview rooms, an office for mental health counseling, and an expanded officer gym/training room and locker rooms.

The existing Auburn Justice Center wll remain at its current location where the Auburn Municipal Court will continue to operate along with other potential uses in the future.

The consultant’s study recommended that the city:

• Invest $7 million in a new evidence storage building on the property, but renovate the present building even as it invests $48 million for a future HQ project, to be timed as funding allows.

• Include $250,000 in spending for facility maintenance needs.