Kitchener’s old courthouse will become the new headquarters for the Central Division of Waterloo Region Police.

Regional councilors have voted to buy the building at 200 Frederick Street from the province at a cost of $6.4 million.

The plan is to make it the new home for the Central Division, which handles policing for most of Kitchener.

Central Division currently operates out of 134 Frederick Street. The building, which was constructed in 1958, is now too small. There are also safety concerns, specifically, about the ability to separate youths, men and women.

A plan to renovate 134 Frederick Street was also considered but the cost to update the cell block alone would have cost $16 million.

The region decided that purchasing a new property would be a better investment in the long-term.

The building at 200 Frederick Street has 87,000 square feet of space and could be expanded further.

The total cost to buy the building and renovate it is $42 million.

Another option would have been to build a completely new structure in downtown Kitchener. The region says that would have cost $60 million. Even though the new building for North Division was built for the less than a third of that price, Tom Galloway says it’s not fair to compare the two because it would be “twice the size and the land costs.”

Central Division’s old building at 134 Frederick Street will repurposed for other uses.

The only thing that hasn’t been decided is what to do with the sculpture on the front lawn of the old courthouse.

“There will be a public process to determine what will happen to that sculpture,” says Kari Feldmann, a senior project manager with the region.

The renovation project at 200 Frederick Street is expected to be complete by 2012.

With reporting by Abigail Bimman