Time to update that yellow-and-black “Work In Progress” sign next to the Police Headquarters Garage on East Baltimore Street.

Repairs to the granite-clad structure were not, as the sign promises, completed in “Spring 2025.” Nor will they be finished next year.

Now slated to cost over $11 million – or nearly double the original price tag – the building won’t be open until April 2027, the Department of General Services informed Mayor Brandon Scott and the Board of Estimates last week.

Ignoring the fact that years of delays and multiple million-dollar price hikes happened on his watch, the mayor blamed his predecessors for the debacle.

“It’s not something that we all did,” Scott told fellow board members, Council President Zeke Cohen and Comptroller Bill Henry.

”The city in its history, our predecessors, did not invest back into city infrastructure,” he continued. “And this is what happens when you don’t do that. You have a garage in quote-unquote the new police headquarters building that fails. And then we have to be doing these things.”

The mayor called on DGS Director Berke Attila to estimate how much the fix-up will take out of the agency’s CIP (Capital Improvement Program) budget.

The budget runs between $16 and $20 million a year, Attila said, and the repairs will cost at least $11 million, so “it took about 80% of our annual CIP.”

(From the numbers he cited, the percentage was more like 55-69%. But then again, Attila didn’t count the roughly $850,000 that DSG spent so far on engineering studies and related work.)

More costs may be on the way, Attila hinted.

“Hoping this will be the last time we’re here for a work change order – knock on wood, yes, thank you – there are other things that could happen today, tomorrow that require this level of money and effort,” he explained to the spending board.

Corroding Within

Built in the 1970s, the garage not only housed vehicles for the police high command, but stored evidence for the Crime Scene Unit’s forensic team and was used for office space by the homicide squad until it suffered a “localized structural collapse” on August 24, 2023.

A slab of concrete decking fell from the fourth level through the third level, leaving a one-by-three-foot hole in the floor, prompting DGS to shut down the garage and call on consultants for answers.

An initial sounding survey in fall 2023 concluded that the building suffered from extensive “superficial delamination,” or the separation of steel beams from their concrete casings, mostly likely caused by years of leaks and moisture infiltration.

On February 12, 2024, the Board of Estimates approved a $6.8 million emergency no-bid contract with Restoration East Inc., a Baltimore county contractor, to stabilize the building, setting a one-year completion date.

As work got underway, previously stored vehicles were removed from the garage and a more comprehensive sounding survey was conducted by another set of engineers.

They concluded that delamination “was notably more pronounced than what was observed during the initial testing conducted by the structural engineer,” DGS reported in a memo reviewed by The Brew.

In short, a lot of steel beams and girders weren’t just separating from their concrete casings – they were rusting out within.

In June 2024, DGS awarded Restoration East a $1.5 million EWO (extra work order) and told to proceed “with a full-scale scope of repairs” to girders and beams.

Nearly a year later, on June 4, 2025, the agency came back to the Board of Estimates not to announce completion of the project, but to request another $3 million.

Emergency Evacuation

The reason why later became apparent.

On May 20, or two weeks before the board meeting, four basement garage bays used by the Crime Scene Unit had been evacuated after cracks formed in the ceiling and concrete started raining down on vehicles and employees.

“It’s a miracle nobody was injured,” said a person with knowledge of the incident. Workstations and drying cabinets used by CSU employees to process and document fingerprint and DNA information were located under the cracked ceilings.

“The temporary solution was to reinforce the ceiling with numerous metal poles,” a source said.

DGS eventually confirmed the incident and acknowledged that vibrations from Restoration East’s equipment may have caused the partial collapse.

“I am appalled by how much money the city is willing to throw at this problem”  – BPD employee.

“Our team coordinated the structural engineer on record to assess the project. The garage has been stabilized to minimize risk during the renovation,” the agency said.

For spooked employees, months of loud jackhammering had taken its toll on the main police building, which is structurally interconnected with the garage.

“We’re left wondering how all this construction is affecting the structural integrity of this 10-story building,” one employee wrote to The Brew. “I can clearly hear the constant drone of the jackhammers and at times even feel the building shake.”

Work Continues

Little has changed since July, according to personnel interviewed this week by The Brew. In August, inspectors from the Maryland Health Department conducted a survey of BPD’s Forensic Services Division and found that, despite the May cave-in, “the facility is currently in compliance with COMAR 10.51.”

The jackhammering continues to shake the complex, and rows of steel poles continue to hold up the basement bays.

“It’s insane that nobody asks any questions. But everyone is afraid to say anything,” a source said.

The same goes for the Board of Estimates.

The panel’s two independent board members – Zeke Cohen and Bill Henry – listened last week as the DGS director expressed hope of no more price increases.

Without comment, they then joined Scott and his two board appointees to approve $3,214,511.51 more in taxpayer funds to Restoration East.

“I am appalled,” said a person who works in the HQ building, “by how much money the city is willing to throw at this problem instead of cutting their losses and housing a major metropolitan police department in an adequate office building.”

– To reach the reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com