Ground was broken on Monday for a new 12th District police station.
The two-story, 44,000 square foot facility is slated to open next year and comes with a pricetag of about $41 million.
"Chicago is one of the few cities -- and I underline that one of the very few cities across the nation -- that continues to build new police stations, fire stations, and even libraries," said Mayor Richard Daley.
The project is part of the mayor's "Neighborhoods Alive" program. It'll be the 14th of the 19 new stations expected under the program that was started in 1999.
"This is something that's well-deserved for the men and women of the 12th district and this neighborhood. I'm glad to see it coming," said interim police Supt. Terry Hillard.
Not only will the new building be five times larger than the facility it replaces, it'll also be more friendly to Mother Nature.
It's designed to achieve the goal of LEED "Gold" Certification and includes a turbine generator waste heat recovery system, a roof with more than 50 percent considered "green" and roof and paving selected to reduce heat island effects. It's also being built with some recycled materials and will have a sophisticated building energy management system.
