Construction of a new building to serve as Montgomery County Police’s Silver Spring District headquarters in White Oak is officially underway. Police officers and county officials broke ground on the 32,844-square foot project Wednesday afternoon.

The station will be located at 1002 Milestone Drive, near the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and Route 29, and will serve the police department’s 3rd District, which extends up the Route 29 corridor from downtown Silver Spring to Burtonsville. The current station was built in 1962 and is located downtown at 801 Sligo Avenue.

County Executive Isiah Leggett said the station is “strategically located to serve this growing part of the county.”

“When you look at the greater Silver Spring area today and think about the population that is served, it is an enormous population,” he continued. “We believe this location is an ideal location for the department.”

Police Chief J. Thomas Manger called the Silver Spring District the “busiest area in the county.”

“Some of the best cops that we have in this department working out of a station that is absolutely inadequate when it terms of technology,” he said, referring the current 50-year-old station. “Having this new facility, it's going to bring them into the 21^st century and help them do their job all the better.”

Mt. Airy-based contractors Keller Brothers Inc. were chosen to construct the building, which will cost the county nearly $11.7 million. The new building is expected to be LEED-Silver certified. Silver is the third-highest score given by the U.S. Green Building Council for energy conservation and environmentally friendly design and construction. 

Construction will be complete in 18 months, said David Dice, head of the county’s department of general services.

Councilmember Phil Andrews, chair of the County Council’s public safety committee and commanders from the 3^rd District attended the ceremony. 

Read more:

Third District Police Station to Break Ground July 18