NORFOLK, Va. — A building along Hampton Boulevard that once housed hotel guests and Old Dominion University students is undergoing another transformation — this time into a new home for ODU police and public safety.
Construction is underway at the former ODU Inn at 4111 Hampton Boulevard, where the university is renovating the three-story building into a roughly 25,000-square-foot public safety facility.
The project will eventually move much of ODU's public safety operation out of its longtime police station at 4516 Monarch Way, a storefront location that Chief Garrett Shelton said the department has outgrown.
"Not recognizing that we are in a storefront — that is a common occurrence," Shelton said.
ODU police moved into the Monarch Way location about 20 years ago, initially on what Shelton described as a temporary basis. At the time, he said, the department was roughly half the size it is today.
As the department grew, so did the technology, equipment and staffing needed to operate a modern police agency and 24-hour emergency communications center. The building, however, stayed the same size.
"Ultimately, we outgrew this space many years ago," Shelton said. "As technology progresses, as equipment progresses, as resources progress, and things become bigger, this space didn't."
Shelton said one of the biggest challenges has been the department's 911 center, which has had little room to expand even as technology and staffing needs have increased. Other public safety services are also spread across the university rather than operating from a single location.
The search for a long-term solution began several years ago. Shelton said ODU President Brian Hemphill saw the police station after arriving at the university and quickly recognized the space limitations.
Shelton said he agreed the department needed something larger but wanted to make sure ODU found a location that could serve public safety for decades rather than provide another temporary fix.
The former ODU Inn emerged as the answer.
The building has served several purposes over the years. Shelton said it was originally constructed as a hotel before eventually becoming ODU property and being used for student housing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was also used to house medical professionals working at nearby Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
University records show the ODU Inn remained a residence hall through summer 2022 before being removed from ODU's housing inventory for non-residential use.
An old newspaper clipping from the Inn's days as student housing offers a glimpse at one chapter of the building's history. Now, construction crews are writing its next one.
Shelton said the Hampton Boulevard property immediately stood out when he was asked where he would want the department to go.
The location is highly visible, close to the existing police station and large enough to bring public safety operations that are now separated across campus into one building.
"It gives us the opportunity, with about 25,000 square feet, to not only move in everything that we need to, but to also bring together all of the public safety services into one building," Shelton said. "Which is a huge advantage when you can have everything in one place."
Police, security personnel, emergency management, threat assessment and the university's 911 center are among the operations expected to work from the renovated building. ODU also plans to integrate public safety systems following the university's merger with Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Shelton said the consolidation could make a difference during an emergency because the people responsible for different aspects of the response would be working from the same location.
"Should something occur, we're all there, all able to touch each other's ideas and come up with a quicker solution in a quicker time," Shelton said.
ODU has also said the project will include a modernized 911 center. The university recently identified the renovation and dispatch system upgrade as part of its continuing work to improve campus security.
Renderings Shelton shared with News 3 show how the former Inn will look once the transformation is complete.
While much of the exterior structure remains, the inside is being significantly reworked. Former hotel rooms are becoming offices, while walls have been removed in some areas to create larger meeting, briefing and training spaces.
"Here's a building that has good bones, interior and exterior," Shelton said. "It has the ability to house exactly what we wanted to put into it."
The new facility is also being designed around how officers interact with people who come to police for help.
Shelton said plans include what the department calls a "soft interview room." Rather than looking like a traditional police interview room, he said the space will have more of a living-room feel and can be used when officers work with victims who have experienced traumatic events.
The building will also have counseling space connected to ODU's Frontline program, which Shelton described as a counseling program focused specifically on public safety. Counseling interns will be able to embed with the department and provide resources to officers dealing with traumatic incidents.
Shelton also sees the renovation as an opportunity to create a police facility that feels more accessible to the public.
ODU police are not limited to the boundaries of the university's main campus. The department has concurrent jurisdiction with the City of Norfolk and provides police services in surrounding areas. ODU says its jurisdiction includes the Lamberts Point, Larchmont and Highland Park communities.
Shelton said that relationship with surrounding neighborhoods influenced how the new building was designed.
"We have enough barriers in law enforcement," Shelton said. "What we're trying to do is build a space for the community that lowers the barrier the moment that you walk into the door."
That includes space that could be used for community meetings and programs. Shelton said ODU currently holds a citizens academy for students twice a year but has to find space elsewhere on campus to host it.
The new building could change that.
"It's not just for us," Shelton said. "It just happens to be where we're going to work from, but it's for the community."
The renovation could also cost significantly less than constructing a new police station from the ground up.
Shelton estimated the current project at around $14 million. He said a plan developed before the COVID-19 pandemic to build an entirely new police station was estimated at about $26 million.
"We're getting a 25-year building for half of what it would cost to build a new building," Shelton said.
For Shelton, seeing crews finally working on the building has made a project discussed for years feel real.
"I drive by it every day back and forth from home to work, and I've seen that building every day since I started here," Shelton said.
After the plans were finalized and approved, he said he found himself waiting to see the first signs of work.
"When it first started, my initial response was, 'Is this really happening?'" Shelton said.
The excitement, he said, is less about getting a new police station for himself and more about improving the environment for the officers, dispatchers, security personnel and other employees who spend countless hours serving ODU and the surrounding community.
If construction proceeds without major complications associated with renovating an older building, Shelton said ODU hopes to have the facility fully operational around September or October 2027.
Shelton expects the building to serve as ODU police headquarters for at least the next 25 years.
"This is the beginning of something great, which I hope continues to flourish over the years," Shelton said. "It's going to certainly help us as a university, as a police department, as a community to be better, and that's our ultimate goal."
And while much of the project is about giving public safety more space, better technology and a permanent home, Shelton said the ultimate measure of the investment will be what it does for the people outside its walls.
"It's ultimately not about us and the officers and the people working in it," Shelton said. "It's about the community, and part of that is making us better so we can be better for them."
Click here to see how we use AI at WTKR News 3.
