NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Police Department has taken steps toward moving out of its decaying Broad Street headquarters and into a downtown high-rise office building.
Several members of the City Council confirmed that plans are well underway to vacate the five-story headquarters at 715 S. Broad and into the upper floors of 1615 Poydras St. across from the Superdome.
The high-rise, formerly known as the Freeport McMoran building, has seen dwindling occupancy, especially since DXC Technology started shrinking its footprint following the failure of its previously ballyhooed move into the upper floors of the building in 2018.
The first step toward the NOPD leaving its longtime headquarters will come before the City Council on Thursday with a proposed lease agreement for the new space.
“This is long overdue and badly needed,” said Councilman Oliver Thomas. “We can’t keep our police officers overheated in the summer and cold in the winter in this old building. I see this transition as a positive step for the department.”
Moving NOPD headquarters means a new home for Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick and her staff, the management services bureau, public information office, information systems and records room, among other offices.
The headquarters building has been plagued by problems in recent years, including rat infestation, elevator breakdowns and for a couple of months last summer, the failure of its air-conditioning system.
Council Vice-President Helena Moreno and others foresee the move taking place in the coming weeks, possibly as soon as April.
“After all of the problems there, this move probably should have happened a long time ago,” Moreno said. “The ultimate question is whether the new place will be the permanent headquarters. Or is there a chance of renovating the existing headquarters, or moving into some new space entirely.”
The new space for the NOPD is expected to take up two or three floors of the 23-story Poydras Avenue high-rise. The building changed ownership in January when longtime owner Frank Stewart sold the property to brothers Eddie and Joseph Hakim of Monroe.