CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland City Council voted Wednesday to approve a plan to move its police headquarters into the building that houses cleveland.com and was once home to The Plain Dealer.

The legislation clears the way for Mayor Frank Jackson's administration to buy the building and hire GLP Superior Ltd., led by Fred Geis, to renovate the property at 1801 Superior Ave.

The project is expected to cost about $60 million - including about $18 million for the building and surrounding 8 acres of property.

The building, owned by The Plain Dealer Publishing Co., is the current home of cleveland.com and other tenants that include the YMCA of Greater Cleveland and the Center for Economic Opportunities of Greater Cleveland.

Mayor Frank Jackson has said he wants the move to happen quickly.

Why this building?

The city expects the new location to be more cost effective than the current headquarters at the Justice Center complex downtown. It will allow for improvements to technology and will provide space to consolidate offices that now are scattered around the city.

The building, constructed in 2000, will have to be renovated for the police department. When finished, it will provide a more welcoming environment for visitors and a better work environment for officers, police Chief Calvin Williams has said.

Williams reaffirmed that Wednesday with City Council.

"It's a beautiful building and I think people will be drawn to it," Williams said. "The building ... puts the division (of police) and the city in a position to administer 21st Century policing to our community.

Ultimately 600 to 700 people will work in the police headquarters. About 200 will be civilians. Another 100 or so will be command and administrative staff. The remainder will be police investigatory units.

Williams has said the department will begin moving in stages. The move out of the Justice Center is expected to be finished by spring. Further consolidation of other offices, though, will continue through 2019.

What about the jail?

The move is part of a bigger plan by the city to get out of the jail business, as well as out of the Justice Center downtown.

In June 2017 Cleveland City Council approved a deal that the Jackson administration negotiated with Cuyahoga County that allowed the city to close its lockup at the Justice Center and the county to take over all jail operations.

That shift was completed this month.

The city sold the county its share of the Justice Center complex for $9.25 million. The title of the building will be transferred in October 2018.

After that, Cleveland will pay Cuyahoga County $10 a square foot in monthly rent for whatever space police continue to use - a fee that would amount to nearly $250,000 a month based on the space the police occupy now. But as staff moves out, that cost will decrease.

That's why Jackson wants the move to happen quickly.

How was the site selected?

The city used Colliers International to research, tour and evaluate more than a dozen proposed sites. All were generally in the greater downtown area. All but two sites were east of the Cuyahoga River and inside the Innerbelt.

That group was narrowed to five sites.

GLP Superior Ltd. Offered the 1801 Superior site for $72 million -- the cheapest bid among those five by nearly $8 million. That bid was then reduced by about $12 negotiated through negotiations between GLP and the city to get to the final $60 million price.