Design work beginning on downtown forensics lab

Hamilton Police is finally moving ahead with design plans to build a downtown forensics lab on Wilson Street.

The service is issuing a request for proposal for someone to design the lab, which will be on a rectangle of now-vacant land bound by Catharine, Wilson, Mary and Rebecca Streets. Itll cost about $1.5 million, which the city approved in last years police budget.

The city bought the land, which has sat vacant for years, for the forensics facility in 2010. The Hamilton Downtown Mosque had also hoped to buy it to build a new mosque and community centre behind their current one at 96 Wilson St.

Since then, the land has been growing weeds, Coun. Jason Farr told CBC Hamilton in early November.

City manager Chris Murray will confirm the RFP at a general issues committee on Dec. 4. When the design is finished, the service needs about $12.5 million more to build the centre.

• Related:Downtown mosque gets a little more time to raise $3M

The downtown mosque, meanwhile, has moved on. It hopes to raise $4 million to buy 0.6 hectares (1.56 acres) at 221 York Blvd. So far, it has raised about $1.1 million.

We have a wonderful fundraising team, said Wahed Al-Jabry, director with the mosque. We are getting there.

The mosque hopes to take possession of the new property by the end of the year. Eventually, it hopes to build a new complex with a school, day care centre, mosque and welcome centre for immigrants.