AFTER SIX years at its current location, Precinct Four is searching for a new home.

At a recent Citizens-Oriented Policing meeting, Cmdr. Kenneth Goodrum told residents about the precinct’s plan. “We’re now looking at relocating to the old McRae’s at Meadowbrook Mart or the old Primos building on North State Street,” he said.

The announcement comes a month after the Fondren Renaissance Foundation (FRF), the owners of the building housing Precinct Four’s current headquarters at 3404 N. State St., upped the department’s rent from $1,200 to $3,000 a month.

After the department’s lease was up in December, the foundation’s board of directors voted to increase the rent, citing a need to bring in additional funding to offset building maintenance, insurance and a recent increase in Hinds County property taxes.

“Insurance on the precinct is over $6,000 a year,” said FRF Executive Director Mary Jo McAnally. “We’d love for the police department to stay, but they couldn’t stay at (the previous) rate. It’s not a good investment for nonprofits to rent property.”

THE PRECINCT is located in an 8,000-square-foot, two-story building north of Patton Drive in Fondren. The building is one of three owned by FRF, including its headquarters and another house the foundation is renting to artists in need of studio space.

The foundation is planning to sell that building for $185,000, said McAnally.

FRF Board President Barry Plunkett said that despite the increase, the precinct still gets a great deal on rent. And he, like McAnally, hopes the 47 officers stationed at the North State location will continue to answer calls from the building for years to come.

Plunkett said with the increase, the department is being charged less than $5 a square foot, a roughly $3 increase from the $2 a square foot in the last lease.

In contrast, developer Mike Peters said rent in the Fondren Place development, his new retail and professional development on Duling Avenue, goes for $20 a square foot. And on Lakeland Drive, property owners can fetch as much $17.50 a square foot.

Kitty Rushing, a Realtor working for Charlotte Smith Real Estate, said a 4,700-square-foot building at 260 McWillie Drive that’s listed at $200,000 for sale, would go for about $10 a square foot, or roughly $3,900 a month in rent, she said.

The precinct temporarily moved into the house-turned-office building in 2002, relocating form a cramped, 1,000-square-foot building at 4940 Old Canton Rd. Since moving in, the precinct has contributed to the area.

Belmont Trapp, a crime watch committee member with the OurFondren neighborhood watch group, told the Sun that having the precinct relocated to the community sparked a new sense of community pride and involvement among neighbors.

“We made a point of getting to know them and wanted them to be part of our family,” she said.



HINDS COUNTY Sheriff Chief Malcolm McMillin said the building currently has foundation issues that need to be addressed as well as a lack of parking. He said the department is now looking at its options to see what is best suited for the precinct.

“The condition (of the building) is not where it was when we moved in,” Deputy Chief Dewayne Thomas told the council at a recent work session. He said the department was unsure whether or not FRF would want to undertake the expenses to repair the facility.

The department now parks its patrol cars at a parking lot to the rear of the building and behind a office located south of Patton Street. In addition to needing more parking for officers, he said patrons visiting the precinct also need spaces to park.

He said the building also isn’t as accessible as he would like it to be. While a new building could benefit the precinct, he said moving to a new location could create another renaissance for the area between Meadowbrook and Northside Drive, a move that many say would be positive.

“I think moving would add business to the area,” he said in a recent telephone interview, referring to a potential move to Meadowbrook Mart or the old Primos facilities. “Of course, it’s just up the street from where we were.”