Oakland County has closed on an $8.8 million deal for a sprawling flex building in Rochester Hills, with plans to turn the former corporate offices into a centralized training center for law enforcement. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners' finance committee approved the purchase and the authorization of up to $10.5 million by a 6-0 roll call on July 9 for the acquisition and conversion of 3255 West Hamlin Road, and the purchase has now closed.
The deal, reported by CoStar, has the county paying roughly $110 per square foot for the property, which spans either 80,000 or 83,663 square feet depending on the source cited. The board's authorization, according to Citizen Portal, covers not just the $8.8 million purchase price but also planned site upgrades, interior renovations, and work to bring the building up to Oakland County facility standards. County facilities staff presented that budget breakdown during committee review before the full board vote, the outlet reports.
Oakland County purchased the property from Dietz Property Group, according to CoStar's reporting. Ron Goldstone, executive vice president and retail broker at NAI Farbman, and Jake Wiseman, a sales and leasing associate at the same firm, were involved in the transaction, per the same outlet.
How the County Is Paying for It
Funding for both the purchase and the redevelopment runs through a mix of Oakland County strategic investment funds, capital improvement bonds, and future Sheriff's Office budget allocations, the report notes. The funding plan combines those sources for the project.
The building itself dates to 1996 and sits on a 5.99-acre site in Rochester Hills' BI, or Business Industrial, zoning district, according to CPIX. The site includes approximately 196 surface parking spaces, and the flex building features two grade-level overhead doors along with one exterior dock-high truckwell, useful infrastructure for tactical training equipment and specialized vehicles. The property runs along the M-59 commercial corridor with direct access to I-75, Adams Road, and Rochester Road, a spine that links northern Oakland and Macomb counties, per CPIX.
From Auto Parts Headquarters to Deputy Training Ground
Before the county stepped in, the building served as corporate office space and headquarters for automotive aftermarket supplier First Brands Group LLC, according to Seamless.AI. That corporate history stands in contrast to the property's planned use as a sheriff's training facility.
The Rochester Hills purchase isn't an isolated move. Hoodline previously reported that Oakland County closed on an $11 million industrial building in nearby Auburn Hills earlier this month to nearly double storage capacity for the Sheriff's Office. Together, the two deals point to a county-wide push to modernize law enforcement infrastructure that has long relied on older, scattered facilities.
Replacing Aging, Scattered Training Sites
Among those older sites is a facility on South Street in Ortonville, where the Sheriff's Office has historically held specialized arrest-and-control and tactical training courses, according to POLICECOMBAT.COM. Ortonville has hosted hands-on defensive tactics and de-escalation instruction for area deputies, per that source.
Regional law enforcement instruction is also provided through the Oakland Police Academy at Oakland Community College's Auburn Hills campus, according to Oakland County.
