Once home to the Redlands City Council chambers, police station, and jail, Redlands Safety Hall was vacated a decade ago when the building was deemed unsafe due to asbestos and structural failings.
Earlier this month, the council unanimously agreed it was time for Safety Hall and its neighbor, the former San Bernardino County Superior Court building, to be demolished.
The buildings, at the corner of Brookside Avenue and Eureka Street, have become an eyesore, and their demolition will likely begin in July, Pat Meyer of Vantage One Real Estate Investments said. In 2016, the city sold the Safety Hall building to Vantage One for $1.6 million.
“I think all of us concur that Eureka is becoming a very beautiful corridor now,” Meyer told The Redlands Daily Facts. “This will be an anchor point for it.”
Vantage One has not yet come up with a concrete plan for the land, but it will include retail spaces, restaurants, offices, and potentially some residential units.
Both Safety Hall and the county courthouse were built in the early 1960s. While Safety Hall was closed after cracks in the walls and support beams were discovered in 2007, the courthouse was shuttered in 2009 because of budget issues. —Taylor
