Paul Bass Photo
The “WEB” — Whalley, Edgewood, Beaver Hills — police substation will have no physical home of its own for at least three months.
The substation has learned it must vacate its current 386 Whalley Ave. home at the corner of Norton Street (pictured) by June 1. It will not have a new home until the fall at the earliest.
Rather than renew their lease last July, the police have been renting the current location on a month-to-month basis while waiting for landlord Pat Minore to build out their new space up the block at 332 Whalley Ave.
As of last Thursday, the inside of that building — a vacant three-story former home of the legendary Third World George reggae nightclub, next door to Minore’s Market — looked like this.
The decision to move the substation sparked controversy, leading to this showdown at City Hall. (Click on the video to watch highlights.)
Current landlord Eliezer Greer said that he needs to move a new tenant into the first-floor substation space. The tenant is Edgewood Elm Housing, a not-for-profit housing group started by the Greer family in 1989 to restore neighborhood properties.
Pat Minore said he plans to spend at least $500,000 fixing his storefront and parking lot and renovating 332 Whalley (pictured), leasing the 2,500-square-foot first floor to the cops for the new home of the substation while renting out the top floors as apartments.
“It’s a little rough for me to pin down the date” for when the cops can move in to 332 Whalley, Minore said. “The paperwork is still being drafted; I’m hoping four months. That’s on the optimistic side.”
In the meantime, the top neighborhood cop, Lt. Makiem Miller, said he’s not worried about wandering in the interim. He said he has arranged for his officers to be able to file reports in the Westville/West Hills and Dwight substations. He said he plans to store substation furniture in space the department leases on Wintergreen Avenue.
Sheila Masterson of the Whalley Avenue Special Services District said her members volunteered to pitch in, when they learned this week about the latest development. Members have made space available for the neighborhood’s management team and Main Street (commercial development) committee to meet until the new substation, she said. Masterson said she and others are also offering to make space available for officers to store bikes or do paperwork. That’s what community policing is all about, she said.
Markeshia Ricks contributed reporting.
