BRADENTON, Fla. — The city of Bradenton is changing as leaders work on development agreements for downtown.
There's already a plan for a new police department building. The same architect who designed the new St. Pete Police headquarters, AECOM, created a rendering of the vision for the property. Crews are expected to start on the 46,000-square-foot design in June.
It will cost $30 million.
Meanwhile, another architect, Sweet Sparkman Architecture, designed a new city hall which is also expected to start this summer once the location is finalized. That $18-million project will redevelop an existing building. Mayor Gene Brown says by selling the current city hall for redevelopment, the city expects it will become a $400 million to $500 million project that will bring in tax money that will help other areas of the city, too.
"My goal is to leave it better than when I came in, but set it up for 50 years, you know, where it's something where they won't be having to think about for a long time," Brown said.
Both of these buildings will be set up higher for protection from storms. Brown says they also heard people want more green space, and they're going to have that with more places for markets, events or even reading a book.
“You see that a lot in Tampa, when you're up there around some of their buildings and the trees, and that that was up there not too long ago. And I just love seeing one of the streets where they had a bunch of benches out right in their downtown,” Brown said. “It’s an opportunity to set it up for generations to come. Now they're coming here.”