Tampa has begun a roughly $27 million project to consolidate police forensics, evidence storage and vehicle impound operations at a city-owned property on Howard Avenue, moving forward with a project that TBBW reported in April had been delayed at City Council before receiving unanimous approval.
The Tampa Police Forensics and Evidence Annex at 5005 N. Howard Ave. will reuse an approximately 38,000-square-foot vacant warehouse and add 7,300 square feet, bringing the department’s Evidence Section, Forensic Investigations Unit, laboratories, processing rooms and related workspaces into one complex. The city expects to complete the project by May 2028.
The construction contract itself is worth $21.8 million and was awarded to J. Kokolakis Contracting, the lowest of three bidders. TBBW reported in April that the contract had been continued from an April 2 council meeting before returning under staff reports and unfinished business. Kokolakis bid against Burke Construction Group and Mainstay Construction Services, with the overall project narrowing to roughly $27 million after bids were received.
That put the project below preliminary estimates of $30 million to $40 million. The city is financing the work with non-ad valorem bond proceeds through its capital improvement program, with additional allocations and reimbursements tied to a second phase. About 28% of the contracting and buildout work is committed to certified local firms.
“Through a highly competitive bidding process that reduced projected costs from $40 million to nearly $27 million, we are delivering this critical Forensics and Evidence Annex while demonstrating our absolute commitment to the efficient use of taxpayer dollars,” Mayor Jane Castor said.
The consolidation will relocate the department’s evidence and forensic operations from the McKay Bay area and move functions out of downtown police headquarters, replacing a system that requires personnel and evidence to travel between locations. Acting Police Chief Brett Owen said bringing those operations together should strengthen chain-of-custody procedures and reduce investigation turnaround times.
“By centralizing our forensic and evidence efforts into one upgraded location, we eliminate the need for cross-town transport and improve safeguarding the chain of evidence,” Owen said. “This will speed up investigation turnaround times.”
Plans include high-density evidence vaults, secure intake bays and long-term storage racks, along with contamination-controlled rooms for ballistics, latent fingerprint analysis and biological and digital evidence examination. Specialized ventilation and air-filtration systems will support laboratory work, while continuous-power systems will protect operations and stored evidence.
The project extends to adjoining property on North Albany Avenue, where a secured impound lot will accommodate more than 150 vehicles for processing and storage. Plans call for perimeter fencing and specialized paving.
Kokolakis is leading construction, with Architects Design Group, AJ Plumbing, Harmonics Electronics, Howard Associates Architects, Jones Edmunds, MB Drywall Solutions, Pye Barker Fire & Safety, Taimen Madison Lawn Care and Vertical Earth among the local firms participating in the project.