South Portland advances new police station plan as city weighs sites, costs, and voter approval timeline
Decision-making shifts from Mahoney campus concept to a Main Street property purchase
South Portland has moved closer to building a new police station after city officials advanced a plan centered on acquiring an existing commercial property on Main Street, a change from earlier concepts that placed a police facility on the former Mahoney Middle School grounds. The move reflects a multi-year municipal facilities debate that has paired public safety needs with broader goals to consolidate city services and modernize aging buildings.
The Main Street purchase under discussion involves a Walgreens site listed for sale after the company announced it would close the location. City officials have stated the acquisition itself would not immediately affect taxes, while construction funding would be put before voters in November. Design work and a full construction cost estimate are still in development.
How the Mahoney civic-campus plan shaped the current proposal
In 2024 and 2025, city planning documents and committee work framed Mahoney as a potential municipal and cultural hub, including space for City Hall functions, the library and community arts, with a proposed new police station on adjacent open space. A city-issued request for proposals for designer services described an approach in which the police station would be delivered first, followed by overlapping work to renovate the Mahoney building and reconstruct or expand the Central Fire Station after the police department moved out.
Concept presentations for the broader Mahoney-centered program outlined a large, multi-component project and highlighted cost drivers such as site development conditions, including poor soils and resiliency requirements for essential-service buildings. In that framework, police-station construction was one component within a wider package that also included city offices and fire-station work.
Existing police and fire facilities, and interim investments
South Portland’s police station has been located at 30 Anthoine Street, on the same site as the city’s central fire station off Broadway. City documents show the city previously pursued targeted building improvements, including mechanical and roofing work, through a bond ordinance that also covered projects at multiple fire stations. Those steps addressed near-term facility needs while longer-range replacement planning continued.
What comes next: funding, schedule, and site considerations
The next milestones now hinge on three tracks: completing design development for a new station, confirming total project costs, and securing voter authorization for construction funding in November. Separately, the city has continued planning for changes to other municipal facilities, including the Central Fire Station’s future once police operations relocate.
Near term: property acquisition steps and preliminary design development for a new station.
November: voters asked to approve construction funding for the new police station.
Longer term: sequencing decisions tied to the Central Fire Station and other facility projects once the police department relocates.
Key unresolved items include the final construction budget, the project’s construction schedule, and how the police-station plan will coordinate with remaining municipal-facility upgrades.
For residents, the immediate policy question is expected to be straightforward—whether to authorize the public financing needed to build a new station—while broader decisions on municipal consolidation and site reuse are set to continue alongside the police project.