At Tuesday night’s meeting of Covington’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen, a new agreement was signed with Covington Granite Works to occupy the former police station at 133 East Pleasant.
The building housed the police department, fire department and city hall from 1957 to 2017 but has been vacant for nearly five years.
In February 2017 police led The Leader on a tour of the facility. They described it as unsafe and morale crushing.
When it rained water ran down the walls inside the building. It’d caused the plaster to bubble, the ceiling tiles to bulge and covers of the fluorescent lights to brown beneath pooled water.
There was black mold growing upstairs – where some the detectives’ offices were located – standing water on the flat roof, rusted gutters, awnings covered in mold and mildew.
The building was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements; there was no privacy, no security.
It was, in almost everyone’s words, an embarrassment.
In late February 2017, the board voted to have a spatial study conducted and the state required the police to move out. They have been split into three separate buildings since, waiting on the construction of a new police station.
Meanwhile, the building sat. It was listed for sale in February of this year.
Representing Covington Granite Works, which has been in operation since 1888, Mike Wade will begin renting the building with the intention of renovating it. He will purchase the building a year from now.
Author: Echo Day
Echo Day is an award-winning journalist, photographer and designer. She is currently The Leader's managing editor.
