LEWISTON — City officials are reviewing roughly $2 million in cost overruns for the new Lewiston police headquarters project after getting the final bill in April.

According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Access Act request, city administration was surprised by the final project costs outlined by building owner Tom Platz, and the City Council will soon be asked to act on an amended agreement.

The Lewiston Police Department moved into its new headquarters at a renovated Bates Mill No. 7 in May after initially planning to make the move from Park Street last summer. Complications stemming from the requirements of turning the office building and former mill into a police station — or “Category 4” building — led to “considerable cost overruns.”

In response, the City Council amended the lease agreement with Platz a year ago after the final cost estimate increased to $15.16 million from the original $12.5 million contract.

Now it looks like officials will have to do it again.

According to documents from Platz, the final project price tag is $17.24 million, meaning the city’s monthly lease payment to Platz would increase to $166,016 from an expected $117,547.

The lease agreement amended last year is for nine years, with the option for the city to extend three times for a total of 27 years. It also includes an option for the city to purchase the building following year six.

Angelynne Amores, Lewiston’s director of marketing and communications, confirmed this week that the city is still reviewing “the overage submitted for the new Police Department headquarters.”

“Building to Category 4 standards demands a higher level of investment for items such as reinforced structural integrity, advanced life-safety systems, and continuous operability during disasters, and further, the impact of rising construction costs is an unfortunate, well-documented industry trend,” she said.

Amores also said that “while evaluating the request” the city is “mindful” that a previous study estimated a new facility would cost $38 million.

“Our priority remains delivering a resilient, purpose-built facility within a fiscally responsible framework,” she said.

The city initially entered into the agreement with Platz in 2022 after a building assessment was conducted in 2021 at the department’s former station at 171 Park St.

It’s clear from the April email correspondence between Platz and then-acting City Administrator Brian O’Malley that the additional cost overruns came as a surprise.

“I will need more information for an over two million increase,” O’Malley said, also asking if there were change orders that the city requested that he was not aware of.

A change order is typically a document that amends an existing contract by modifying the scope of work, timeline, or budget.

Platz responded with lengthy lists of items that resulted in increased costs, including work that he said was originally planned to be contracted by the city. Platz said the structural work taking longer than expected had a ripple effect on scheduling of subcontractors and increased cost of materials, and he defended final items like total design fees of $768,750.

Leading up to the April ribbon-cutting, O’Malley told Platz he was “pleased that this project is coming to a close,” but said “please be aware that I cannot pay any more than the amount that the (City Council) authorized back in April 2024.”

O’Malley said “excess costs” were to be approved in writing by the city, and that “with the possible exception of data and security costs, the city has no documentation of any approvals.” In a separate email, he said some of the costs “don’t add up.”

“In order to determine whether or not to approve these costs, the city will require documentation of actual costs so I can justify this to the City Council,” he said.

Platz responded that “everything we did was either mandated by the structural changes or requested” by city staffers working on the project.

The city and Platz have been going back and forth and parsing over project documents since April.

Platz did not respond to a request for comment by late afternoon Tuesday.

Amores said a date has not yet been determined for the City Council to act on the new project cost and possible amended lease agreement.