The city of Minneapolis will cough up $4.8 million to temporarily rent a building to replace the police precinct headquarters torched by rioters in the wake of the police-involved death of George Floyd, officials announced.
A city council committee on Thursday approved spending $3.6 million to sublease the building for three years and $1.2 million to renovate it. The new location is roughly a half-mile from MPD’s Third Precinct, which was burned down by rioters May 28, after officers were forced to abandon it.
Minneapolis had been in the midst of three days of demonstrations protesting police brutality and systemic racism after 46-year-old Floyd’s death.
Floyd, a Black man, died after a White police officer held his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes despite Floyd’s shouts that he could not breathe. He was handcuffed at the time.
Officers and staff have been working remotely, and at the Minneapolis Convention Center since the original Third Precinct was torched.
City Council member Cam Gordon said that renting temporary space will give leaders time to figure out what to do with the old headquarters, 360aproko News reported.
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“One of the things I think this lease will give us is some space and some breathing room in terms of what we’ll do with the Third Precinct building itself, and that’s been a topic of great discussion,” Gordon said.
The lease agreement comes as city leaders continue to debate the future of the Minneapolis Police Department.
The majority of City Council members said in June that they supported disbanding the department. But on Aug. 5, a Minneapolis commission said it would need more time to review a council amendment to dismantle the department, citing legal concerns and missing information. The commission’s decision prevented the amendment from being on the November ballot.
The full City Council is expected to consider the agreement for the building that’s owned by Lothenbach Properties at an Aug. 28 meeting.
