After more than a year of working out of modular trailers, the Apex Police Department is finally getting comfortable in its impressive new facility.

The department began moving into the new Saunders Street station a couple of weeks ago and won’t be relocating anywhere else for quite some time.

“We are extremely proud and greatly appreciative of the new building,” said town manager Bruce Radford.

“It is the finest police facility for a town our size that you will find anywhere. This facility will serve the needs of our community for a very long time.”

Mayor Keith Weatherly said the $6.3 million station shows how committed town leaders are to maintaining high standards of public safety.

“It cost a lot of money,” said Weatherly. “But we were able to do it without raising taxes and we kept the police presence in the downtown. Those were both very important to town council. Public safety has always been a top priority for us. Not only are we opening a new police station but we also recently built a new fire station on Highway 55.

“We plan on making sure that our fire protection remains at the highest standards and we feel the same about our police department. We felt very strongly that a new facility was needed and anyone who took a tour of the old facility would certainly agree with us.”

The new building is certainly a major improvement over the old station, which was plagued by cramped office space, mold, leaks, poor security, and a poor heating and air-condition system.

“This facility will add much needed safety features,” said Radford. “It also has interview rooms for both victims and perpetrators. In the old building there wasn’t a good place to interview victims privately.

“The old station was originally designed to be a town hall. Police stations function very differently from town halls.”

It took 18 months to construct the 34,645-square foot facility, marking a huge increase in size from the previous station’s 14,460 square feet. The communications center was also expanded from 227 square feet to 729 square feet.

“The dispatch function area is state of the art,” said Radford. “It is a big improvement.”

Radford credited the architectural firm of Stewart-Cooper-Newell as well as the New Atlantic Contracting for a well-designed and cost efficient building.

A public dedication ceremony will be held May 11 at 5:30 p.m. Light refreshments and guided tours will be offered.

“We look forward to holding the public dedication ceremony in May,” said Weatherly. “We certainly encourage the public to come and see the new facility.”

“If folks want to see the new station that is certainly the time to do it,” said Radford. “After we hold those tours much of the facility will be off limits to the public.”

The town hopes to reopen the public parking lot on Saunders Street in time for PeakFest being held the first weekend in May. The lot had been used by the police department during the construction of the new station.