The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission unanimously voted to support moving the police headquarters to an empty building on South Rogers Street at its Monday night meeting. It’s another step toward the department’s long-awaited relocation.

The Bloomington Police Department has been seeking a move since flooding five years ago damaged its downtown station.

Mayor Kerry Thomson told the RDC it’s overdue.

“Just to be clear, our current police building does not meet those standards,” Thomson said. “Neither does our current dispatch.”

The new site could integrate the police headquarters with the Emergency Dispatch Center and an Emergency Operations Center.

Detective Jeff Rogers said he and police union president Paul Post looked at other spots, and this is one of the better ones, especially considering its location.

“I know Paul, myself, the chief, everybody is in favor of this as far as the police department goes,” Rogers said.

The building, at 714 South Rogers, is the former site of Bloomington Convalescent Center, and it’s located in the Hopewell neighborhood, where the city hopes to build workforce housing.

Before moving forward, the RDC will have to find an owner’s representative to manage the project, choose an architectural firm and issue bonds to finance the move, possibly backed by tax increment financing, or TIF, revenues.

Assistant City Attorney Dana Kerr said feasibility studies showed $30 million would be sufficient to cover the project.

A few members of the public spoke against the move, including the city’s former assistant director for the arts, Holly Warren. She reminded the RDC that the city had considered the building for art studio and performance space four years ago.

“One of the original things that was called out in the Hopewell Master Plan was spaces for community gathering and creative development in this neighborhood,” Warren said.