ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — The next phase of Royal Oak’s facelift kicks off later today.
Orange barrels have taken the place of cars near the Royal Oak Farmers Market where the new police station will stand in 2020. It’s part of the city’s “Rethink Royal Oak” development project that includes a new city hall, police station, office park and 581-space parking garage.
The police station officially breaks ground on Wednesday at the P-11 lot, the space between the 44th District Court and the Farmer’s Market.
“A new Police Station is necessary to protect our community more efficiently,” said Royal Oak City Police Chief Corrigan O'Donohue. “Our current facility was constructed in 1964 and is extremely outdated for the type of technology and equipment we use today.”
According to the city, the farmers market will remain open during construction. They’ll offer free valet parking on Saturday to help with parking woes — the parking garage that’s currently under construction is slated to open in June.
If you’re shopping at the Royal Oak Farmers Market you’ll also notice a new entrance on 11 Mile for customers — 23 new on-street parking spaces were added on Third Street east of Troy to help while construction continues too.
For more details on the projects coming to Royal Oak, and workarounds for parking as construction continues you can check out Royal Oak’s development website.
