Flag Raised At New Public Safety Building

After several years of planning and construction, the flag has been raised at the Coral Gables Public Safety Building.

A project that did not come without controversy, following debates over its small size, difficulty of use for large response equipment and the pro-developer terms of the lot swap, is now ready to accept its new tenants.

Coral Gables Police Department and Coral Gables Fire Department will officially begin operating from the new Public Safety Building (2151 Salzedo Street) this week.

This is the third location for the Police and Fire Departments on Salzedo Street. As previously mentioned on Gables Insider’s Touring the Gables, the departments were previously housed at the current location of the Coral Gables Museum.

The $56 million Public Safety Building was built to modern day standards and replaces a facility that had become so run-down that Coral Gables Fire trucks were parked under tents on sidewalks, due to the potential risk of a floor collapse in the building’s garage.

Police Chief Edward J. Hudak, Jr.
and Fire Chief Marcos de la Rosa

The building will also house the Regional Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which will handle emergency operations for Coral Gables, as well as five of our neighboring municipalities and the University of Miami.

“Our team is excited with the move to this new state-of-the-art building with the latest technology. We began operating out of the new building on Dec 11. However, some areas of the department will be moving the week of Dec. 14,” said Coral Gables Police Chief Edward J. Hudak, Jr.

“All departments have been scheduled to move by the end of January. While we were hoping to move by the Fall, the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with weather delays pushed our goal. The good news is that we are within the schedule agreed to with the developer so there are no penalties,” said Coral Gables Communications and Public Relations Director, Martha Pantin.

On Friday, December 11th, the flags were withdrawn from the old public safety building and raised at the new public safety building, in a private ceremony.