Norwich — The city received three proposals for a new police station Monday, all of them involving private financing for a building that would be leased to the city — potentially avoiding the need to seek voter approval for bonding at a referendum.

One proposal by a partnership of developer NorthStar Ally of Boston and New London County Mutual Insurance Co. would convert the existing 51,000-square-foot insurance company building at 101 High St. into the police station. The partners proposed a 40-year lease to the city.

The insurance company would move to another location in the city, attorney Theodore Phillips, representing the company, said at Monday’s bid opening.

“NLC has been a part of our community since 1840,” Phillips wrote in a press release issued at Monday’s bid opening. “It has every intention of remaining in Norwich, and has already started to review alternative sites here to house its world headquarters moving forward.”

The plans showed a small addition onto the NLCM building that would house the prisoner transport facility — called a sally port — attached to the existing building. Including that space and two storage buildings, the project would have 58,000 square feet of building.

Proposal for former YMCA site

As expected, a local partnership of developer Henry Resnikoff and D’Amato Builders of Norwich, called RFP Inc., submitted a proposal to build a new three-story police station at 321-355 Main St. at the site of the former YMCA building and two adjacent vacant lots owned by the city.

The YMCA would be torn down, and a 49,657-square-foot three-story building with two underground parking levels would be built on the site. The developers proposed a 25- or 30-year lease, with four 10-year renewal options.

The third plan submitted was by the Downes Construction Co. of New Britain for a three-story 46,250-square-foot police station at the site of the former William A. Buckingham School between Washington and Cedar streets. The building would be three stories facing Washington Street and two stories from the side and rear, built into the steeply sloped property. The group proposed a 30-year lease to the city.

The city-owned former Buckingham School land was the top choice location of a police station study committee that reviewed more than 30 possible sites earlier this year.

Resnikoff and real estate agent Steven Becker had made their project for the YMCA site public last spring as the police station site study committee was reviewing properties. The committee initially rejected the YMCA site as too small, but the developers presented their design to the City Council. A second privately financed site that would have used the Thayer Marine property on North Thames Street also was presented to the council. But that group did not submit a bid by Monday’s deadline.

With private financing and a lease proposed to the city, none of the submittals included a total project price. Downes Construction did include a partial price of $25.6 million, but that would not include financing costs and the developer fee.

In November 2012, city voters soundly rejected a $33 million referendum question to convert the former Sears Building at 2-6 Cliff St. and use several surrounding city-owned lots for a new police station.

City Purchasing Agent William Hathaway said the proposals will be given to the bid review committee, which could meet this week to start reviewing and ranking the submittals. Once the ranking is done based on contents of the proposals, location and other technical details, the committee will review separate and confidential financial information from the firms.

Hathaway hopes the committee can report its recommendations to the council in January.

The review committee includes the police chief or designee, the city purchasing agent, planning director, comptroller, city manager, the public works director and the human resources director. Others could be added to the committee by the city manager or City Council.

Police Chief Louis Fusaro said he was pleased that the city received three proposals for three different sites, allowing for comparisons.

“I’m glad to see the process moving forward,” Fusaro said. “And the sooner it’s done the better. In this economy we’ve been in, construction costs have been very low and they’re starting to move up. I’m pleased that there are three and three different locations.”

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