City Council members in University City gave final approval Monday on a long-awaited project that will see the renovation of two vacant historic buildings and a new home for the city’s police department and municipal court operations.

The council approved funding the projects by issuing up to $28.5 million in Certificates of Participation Bonds for the Annex and Trinity buildings.

The Annex will be renovated into a state-of-the-art police facility while the Trinity building will be transformed into a multipurpose facility that will house court functions and have other areas for public use.

The Annex was home to the police department until the building was condemned in 2016.

Since then, the department has worked out of temporary modular quarters next to City Hall along with municipal court offices. Official court proceedings have been held at the Heman Park Community Center.

Court functions will move to the Trinity Building, which was home to the city’s public library until the mid-1960s. It has been vacant since then.

"This is a creative and resourceful plan, and that is what we do in University City to honor our historic structures but, more importantly, to provide our police with a state-of-the-art facility," said Mayor Terry Crow.

Work could be completed by 2026. The city will pay rent on leased equipment in the buildings until 2049.

The project passed by a 6-1 vote, but not without continued concerns by some in the community that the plan should require a public vote according to the city charter. 

The city plans to lease equipment inside the buildings to creditors as a way of funding the Certificates of Participation bonds. The city will then rent the equipment, making payments through 2049.

The city’s charter says the buildings are on a list of historic buildings which “shall not be sold, leased, given away or otherwise disposed of unless such sale, lease, disposal or gift be approved by a majority of the qualified electors.”

Prior to Monday’s vote, Stephen Kraft, a former city councilman, told the council he was prepared to file a lawsuit within 48 hours to have a judge require a public vote.