It is rare that a public building project — especially one as complicated as the office building-to-police headquarters conversion occurring in Newtown — plays out so smoothly that officials fear jinxing it by predicting whether it might be completed ahead of schedule.

That being said, there was consensus between First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and Public Building & Site Commission Chairman (PBSC) Robert Mitchell that the trajectory of the new police station may end up at least a week or two ahead of its planned completion this fall. The news came during The Newtown Bee’s first walk-through of the facility’s interior, July 16, accompanying the two local officials along with State Rep Mitch Bolinsky.

“Every time I visit I’m impressed with how much further along the project is,” Rosenthal said. “It’s closing in on completion and it’s certainly stayed on — if not ahead of — schedule. And budget-wise, we’re still in a good place.”

Mitchell also marveled at how much more work had been completed since his last visit just a few weeks ago.

“With all the new interior finishes — walls, doors, frames and the like — you can get a much better sense of the spaces now than before,” the PBSC chairman said. “With some of the cabinets and fixtures installed, you can start to get a much better idea of how certain spaces are going to function. You couldn’t really get a sense of that before the walls and rooms were finished.”

The building team will have a much clearer idea of just how far ahead of schedule the project might be once the electrical and mechanical systems are up and running, which could be a matter of weeks, Mitchell said.

“That will be our next big milestone,” he said.

One of the small victories the PBSC official noted was locating a masonry stain to ensure that new brick around the front entrance matched the rest of the existing exterior, which dates from the building’s constructions in 1981.

In the coming days, that front entryway will be finished with glazing and hardware replacing makeshift plywood doors that lead into what will be the facility’s lobby. Mitchell said that since all the materials had been ordered and stockpiled ahead of time, these elements of the project can proceed as soon as prior stages of construction are completed.

“Because of the virus situation, Consigli [Construction] was smart enough to pre-order a lot of materials so they could be available — even if it meant warehousing them for a while before they were needed,” he said.

'A Good Project'

“What’s interesting, as I’m walking around, is noticing features like the entryway for officers and staff, and how much better it came out,” Mitchell added. “To me it’s a sign of a good project when good things come out of it that you didn’t put into it. I sense that when I’m walking around.”

Mitchell also noted how well the design and construction teams coordinated areas of the building interior that could benefit from natural light filtering in from rows of existing windows along the rear roof line.

“They cast such a nice light across the walls,” he observed, “it’s not glaring, it just glows. It came out really nice and is a great feature of the building. There’s all this indirect light around the space.”

Referring to the interior layout as a “racetrack” design, Mitchell pointed out how a walkway adjacent to the lobby can lead visitors or staff on a loop through the building, with utility spaces like locker rooms and a small conference room on the outside and a small gym, dining space, and emergency dispatch center on the inside.

One of the final stops on the tour was the facility’s sally port, a fully enclosed area where vehicles will be able to unload people and evidence, which was added on to the original structure. Mitchell said the cavernous space was specifically designed to get at least two vehicles as large as the police department’s crime scene van inside.

“That space leads directly to intake areas — nobody has to go back outside,” Mitchell said, “and it immediately connects to evidence storage, the booking area, and holding cells.”