LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The New Albany Police Department is hoping to have a new headquarters soon.

Mayor Jeff Gahan's administration presented a plan to city council members Monday for a new standalone station downtown, which would be the first in the city's history.

The estimated $12 million project would be across the street from the department's current location, at Scribner Drive and West Spring Street.

IMAGES | City officials release plans for new fire, police stations in New Albany

New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey calls it a better investment for residents because the department rents its current space at about $122,000 a year. 

Bailey also said it would improve the department's operations by bringing everything under one roof.

"The current facility has outlasted its current usefulness," Bailey said. "We are very short on space, specifically storage space, for evidence. We have operations that are no longer here in the police station. We've had to locate other facilities to operate out of for those operations."

Bailey has said that the current location is "too small to properly serve the needs of a modern police force," and that a new headquarters will allow the department to "better train our officers, provide new services for the community, and increase our mental health and crisis response teams, among other benefits."

"I think our team has done a great job of putting together a new headquarters that will meet the needs of both the department and the people of New Albany for decades to come," Bailey said in a news release Monday.

If the plans are approved and the process goes as planned, the department hopes to start construction in 2023.

In June 2022, the city said a new police station was in the works, along with plans for a new fire station which is already under construction on Charlestown Road. 

Last year, the city found out that Floyd County wanted to renovate the Frank C. Denzinger Criminal Justice Center on Hauss Square, which is owned by the county, and repurpose the space the police department has operated in for nearly 30 years.

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