Roswell, Georgia now runs its police and fire operations out of a single 8.7 acre campus at 1080 Holcomb Bridge Road, and the city marked it with a ribbon cutting on June 24, 2026. If you have driven past the old Summit office buildings near Georgia 400 and wondered why the parking lot filled up with marked units and command vehicles, that is the answer. The Roswell Police Department and Roswell Fire Department are under one roof for the first time in the city’s history.
This is the single largest public safety facility change in Roswell since the Hill Street station opened in 1991, and it touches more than the two departments. It cleared the downtown block that is becoming Hillrose Market, it moved 911 dispatch to a separate hardened building on Alpharetta Highway, and it is one line item inside a bond package that also pays for a relocated fire station and a citywide signal preemption system. If you are new to how the city is spending its bond money, this pairs well with our Roswell business and local search coverage and our look at how the Roswell Georgia Community group connects residents to city news.
Here is the full picture, with the money broken out and the reporting discrepancies flagged where they exist.
Understanding the Roswell Public Safety Headquarters Project
The bond came first. In November 2022, Roswell voters approved $179.6 million across three separate ballot questions: $107.6 million for recreation, parks, bicycle and pedestrian paths and sidewalks, which passed with 74 percent in favor; $52 million for public safety capital projects, which passed with 73 percent in favor; and $20 million for a downtown parking deck, which passed with 57 percent in favor. The city has published those approval percentages on its own bond page.
The $52 million is the program, not the building. This is the detail most coverage of the June 2026 ribbon cutting flattened. Several television stations described the campus as a “$52 million public safety headquarters.” That figure is the total authorization voters approved for all police and fire capital projects, which includes the E-911 center, fire station work and the traffic preemption system. The headquarters itself accounts for a fraction of it. CBS Atlanta reported the renovation and relocation came in under $10 million.
Buying beat building. The city evaluated multiple sites before landing on the Summit property. City staff told council that constructing a comparable new facility would have run roughly $54 million, not including land. Purchasing and retrofitting an existing office campus was the alternative, and it is the same play the city ran a few months earlier with the former Sharp Shooters property for the E-911 center.
The politics changed mid project. The bond referendum, the site selection and the construction contracts all happened under Mayor Kurt Wilson. Wilson lost the December 2, 2025 runoff to Mary Robichaux, who took office in January 2026. Both the E-911 center and the headquarters opened under the new administration.
At a Glance: Hill Street vs. Holcomb Bridge Road
| Previous setup | New Public Safety Headquarters | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 39 Hill Street (police and 911), Hembree Road (fire administration) | 1080 Holcomb Bridge Road, Building 100 |
| Opened | 1991 | Phased police occupancy began October 2025; formal ribbon cutting June 24, 2026 |
| Site | Downtown block adjacent to City Hall | 8.7 acre campus near Georgia 400 |
| Building size | Purpose built for a department of 88 officers | Roughly 127,000 square feet across two buildings |
| Population served at opening | Just under 50,000 (1990 era) | More than 90,000 |
| Departments co located | No. Police and fire administration were across town from each other | Yes. Police and fire administration in the same building |
| Personnel on site | Police department over 160 employees in cramped space | Nearly 400 people from both departments |
| 911 dispatch | On site at 39 Hill Street | Separate hardened facility at 11261 Alpharetta Highway |
| Delivery method | New construction | Purchase and adaptive reuse of an existing office campus |
Figures current as of September 2026. Refresh before reshare.
From Hill Street to Holcomb Bridge Road
The old building ran out of room decades ago. The Hill Street headquarters opened in 1991, when Roswell had 88 officers serving a population just under 50,000. By the time the department moved, it had more than 160 employees and the city had passed 90,000 residents. Police public information officer Timothy Lupo told CBS Atlanta the department had simply outgrown the site as the population climbed. The fire department’s situation on Hembree Road was worse in one specific way: city staff told council that fire administration had converted closets into office space.
The location was chosen for coverage, not for optics. Roswell covers roughly 20 square miles. The Summit site sits near the Georgia 400 and Holcomb Bridge Road interchange, which puts command staff closer to the geographic center of the response area than the downtown location did. That was one of the stated selection criteria when council reviewed the candidate sites in 2024.
Co location is the actual operational change. Both chiefs made the same point in different words at the ribbon cutting. Fire Chief Pabel Troche described the difference as no longer calling across town but instead “walking across the hallway”. Police Chief James Conroy told WSB-TV that communication between the departments is “much smoother and easier”. Lupo framed the old arrangement as needing to physically drive across the city to coordinate during a major incident.
Occupancy was phased, not a single move in day. This is why you may have seen two different “opening” dates. Police personnel began working out of 1080 Holcomb Bridge Road in early October 2025, with upper floors finishing first and first floor work, including detention and processing, continuing into late 2025. The June 24, 2026 event was the formal ribbon cutting for the completed campus with fire administration included.
What the Money Actually Bought
The property purchase: $8 million. Council unanimously approved the purchase contract for the Roswell Summit Office Buildings at a special called meeting on July 29, 2024, and the sale closed in December 2024. The asking price had been $19.5 million and the appraised value was $12.5 million. City staff told the Committees of Council that closing costs added roughly $600,000 on top of the $8 million.
The renovation: $5.7 million authorized. In March 2025, council awarded a Construction Manager at Risk contract to Reeves & Young, with a preconstruction and design phase amount not to exceed $613,267 and a total project budget authorization of up to $5.7 million. Jericho Design Group served as the city architect on the project. The CMAR delivery method put the contractor in the room during design so cost checks happened as the drawings progressed rather than after bidding.
Additional work came later and from a different source. In March 2026, council approved a $13.4 million financing plan through the Roswell Public Facilities Authority covering a set of facility and public safety needs. That package included $1.35 million for public safety headquarters capital projects described as infrastructure supporting emergency response operations that was not in the original 2022 bond scope, plus $500,000 for range revitalization at the E-911 center. If you are tracking total cost of the campus rather than bond spending alone, that $1.35 million belongs in the tally.
The second building. The Summit property includes Building 100 and Building 200. Public safety occupies Building 100. Reporting on Building 200 has not been consistent: FOX 5 reported at the time of the contract approval that the seller was donating Building 200 to the city, while Appen Media reported the city would lease the second building back to the seller. Those are not necessarily contradictory if the conveyance and the leaseback were separate terms of the same agreement, but residents looking for a clean answer on Building 200’s status should ask the city directly.
Inside the Building
The campus is a retrofit, which means most of the square footage is renovated office space. The interesting parts are the purpose built additions.
- Three bay secure sally port garage, including a dedicated bay for the Criminal Investigations Division, allowing arrestee transport into the building without exposure to the public lot
- Evidence and support building with secure, climate controlled evidence storage
- Vehicle processing bay for large evidence items that need to be processed in a secure area
- Motor barn for police fleet vehicles and equipment, including the traffic and motorcycle unit
- Crime lab space on site
- Dedicated fitness and training space for personnel
- Community and training space used for programs such as the Citizens’ Police Academy
Still on the wish list. Lupo told CBS Atlanta that the department’s crime center resources are currently decentralized across officer workstations, and that the department hopes to add a physical real time crime center at the new facility. As of this writing the city has not published a budget or timeline for that build out. Treat it as stated intent, not a funded project.
The Rest of the 2022 Public Safety Bond
The headquarters is the most visible piece. It is not the only one.
E-911 Emergency Communications Center. The city acquired the former Sharp Shooters USA property at 11261 Alpharetta Highway in March 2024 for $5.9 million. Council awarded a $3.9 million construction contract to Reeves & Young in October 2025 against a total project budget authorization of $4.69 million. The facility is designed to Category 4 standards so it can stay self sustaining during a severe weather event, and separating dispatch from the main headquarters building is what made that hardening affordable. The center opened in late May 2026 and replaced the 911 operations that had run out of 39 Hill Street. The Roswell 911 center handles more than 100,000 calls a year according to the city.
Fire Station 27 relocation. The existing Station 27 on Holcomb Bridge Road near the Gwinnett County line was identified in the 2024 Fire Response Analysis as having some of the longest response times in the city because of where it sits. The replacement is planned for city owned land on Fouts Road near East Roswell Park and the East Roswell Library, at an estimated $8 million. Construction was anticipated to begin in 2026 with completion in 2027. Planning has also been underway for a new Station 23 covering the western corridor.
Citywide traffic signal preemption. Roswell installed Glance Priority and Preemption technology across its signalized intersections, reported at 107 locations, letting equipped fire and emergency vehicles hold or call a green light as they approach. If you have hit an unexplained red on Alpharetta Highway or Holcomb Bridge Road and then watched an engine roll through, that is the system working as designed. Installation was scheduled to wrap in late summer or early fall 2025.
Fire department operational changes ran alongside the capital work, including a move to a 48/96 shift schedule and participation in the Qwake thermal imaging program.
What Changes for Residents
911 is unchanged. Calling 911 works exactly as it did. The dispatch center moved buildings, not phone numbers.
In person business moved. Police records, permits, alarm registration and similar walk in services now happen at 1080 Holcomb Bridge Road, Building 100. The city lists public hours as Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on its Public Safety Headquarters facility page. Confirm current hours and department specific contacts there before you drive over, since divisions publish their own numbers.
Downtown gets its block back. The relocation is what unlocked Hillrose Market, the seven acre mixed use redevelopment on the former police property at 39 Hill Street. Council approved the plan in October 2025. The approved program includes roughly 75,000 square feet of commercial space across a six building retail village, 143 apartments, 16 for sale brownstones, structured parking, and adaptive reuse of the former police headquarters building itself with ground floor retail and second floor office. The city’s presentation projected 549 construction jobs, 273 permanent jobs, an increase to the tax digest of $55.6 million within a quarter mile, and $802,500 in annual sales tax revenue. Site work has been underway during 2026. If you are tracking downtown parking and traffic during that construction, our Roswell civic app tools are built for exactly that problem, including the Roswell River Hub and the Survive Alive event guide.
Traffic on Holcomb Bridge. Nearly 400 people now report to a campus on one of the busiest corridors in the city. Shift changes concentrate that. Plan accordingly if you use that stretch near Georgia 400 in the early morning or late afternoon.
Numbers Worth Watching
This is where a straight news writeup usually stops. It should not.
The crime statistic does not reconcile. CBS Atlanta reported that the department cites a 25 percent reduction in major crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault over the last several years. The same report then cited 1,787 major crimes in 2015 against 780 in 2025. Those two figures represent a decline of roughly 56 percent, not 25 percent. One of those numbers is describing a different time frame or a different offense set than the other. Anyone quoting Roswell crime trends should pull the department’s own published report rather than repeat either figure secondhand.
No published response time baseline yet. The central argument for co location and for the preemption system is faster and better coordinated response. That is a measurable claim. As of this writing the city has not published a before and after response time comparison tied to the new headquarters. Ask for it. The 2024 Fire Response Analysis that drove the Station 27 relocation shows the city has the data infrastructure to produce it.
Bond spending is trackable. The city maintains a bond project dashboard at RoswellGov.com/BondDashboard. The first issuance of $86.2 million was approved in May 2023 and included $13.1 million toward public safety. A second issuance of $93.4 million was approved in spring 2025. If you want to know where the remainder of the $52 million public safety authorization sits today, that dashboard is the primary source rather than any news summary, including this one.
Watch the non bond additions. The March 2026 Roswell Public Facilities Authority revenue bond added $1.35 million of headquarters work outside the original 2022 scope. Scope additions financed outside the voter approved package are worth following, because they are repaid through a different mechanism than the general obligation bonds residents actually voted on.
Final Thoughts
The honest summary is that Roswell got a good deal on a building and a genuine operational improvement, and that the number attached to it in most headlines is wrong. A 127,000 square foot campus on 8.7 acres, bought for $8 million against a $12.5 million appraisal and retrofitted for a $5.7 million authorization, is a materially better outcome than a $54 million ground up build. The co location of police and fire administration is a real change in how the two departments coordinate, and the decision to put 911 in a separate Category 4 rated building instead of the same structure is the kind of resiliency choice that only looks smart during the storm that tests it.
What is not yet demonstrated is the outcome the project was sold on. Faster response is a measurable claim and the city has the data to measure it. The building opened in June 2026. A published before and after by the one year mark would close the loop for the voters who approved the money in 2022.
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