Salinas envisions its new police station to double as a community center.

The city of Salinas is embarking on its largest capital project in more than half a century with a $50 million new police station. The project will replace the current six-decade-old police station in Oldtown. The vision for the new police headquarters is particularly ambitious because it will double as a community center.

“We don’t want a traditional police station,” City Manager Ray Corpuz says. “We want something that’s more of a community asset available to everyone in Salinas.”

City officials are calling the new police station a public safety center. The plan is that the new facility, to be located at a former Monterey County Public Works yard on East Alisal Street, will include community rooms and event spaces as well as recreational facilities on site.

The City Council approved a resolution Dec. 6 to partner with the Seattle-based Public Facilities Group for technical assistance and issue a request for proposals from development teams to design and build the new public safety center. Proposals are due Feb. 10 and Corpuz expects to award a contract by April. If all goes as planned, the building is expected to be completed by 2020.

The costs will be covered by funds set aside from Measure G, a 1-cent sales tax approved by Salinas voters in 2014. The city might also be forced to sell bonds to finance the project, Corpuz adds.

The public safety center is also envisioned to anchor the long-delayed Alisal Marketplace, a 50-acre mixed-use development first proposed before the Great Recession in 2008. While there are no specific plans to move ahead with the development, Corpuz says city officials are still in talks with the original developer, Bristol Group.

The proposed police station will be built to accommodate a force of 260 sworn officers, and is expected to last 35 to 50 years.

The Salinas Police Department is currently authorized for 174 officers, but has less than 140 on staff.