Arrest processing unit to be replaced with new facility, mayor confirms

The Calgary Police Service will be getting a new arrest processing unit to replace its outdated downtown facility.

• Calgary jobs promised with city council's approval of $47M in stimulus spending
• Former Calgary Remand Centre inmate concocts jail cookbook

The mayor revealed Wednesday that the city has found the money to build a new lock-up to replace the 50-year-old building north of city hall, next to the central public library.

Former police chief Rick Hanson once joked the old building is like something out of the Dark Ages unsafe for police and suspects alike, full of bars and blind corners.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Brentwood rezoning proposal for retail, office and condos draws critics
• MORE CALGARY NEWS|What's a net-zero home? Find out in Calgary this weekend

It also sustained significant damage in the 2013 floods.

During the capital budget debate Wednesday, Mayor Naheed Nenshi revealed the city now has an unspecified amount of money to proceed.

With the downtown library set to move to a new building in the East Village, he says this opens up redevelopment possibilities.

"That will give us some opportunity to do something very special on the block where the old public library now stands," he said.

"And we'll have to do that in conjunction with Bow Valley College, who of course are the neighbours on the block, to create something that I hope will be great for the college, also great for the city and overall will return a bit of property tax to the city as well."

The city land on that block is currently assessed at $54 million, but it will likely be at least a few years before it goes up for sale.

The province has refused to pay for a new arrest processing unit, although it did offer land adjacent to the provincial remand centre at Spy Hill in northwest Calgary. It's not clear if that's where the new lock-up will be built.