Work on the Andalusia Police Department’s new training facility is about “60-65 percent complete,” Chief Wilbur Williams said Wednesday.

Work began the last week of May on the Academy Drive facility, which once completed, will boast an 85-person capacity classroom and two smaller classrooms with a capacity of 30 each, as well as offices, restroom facilities and a garage area.

Once completed, the facility will become a state-of-the art training ground unlike any around.

“By the end of the week, I’d put the progress at about 70 percent,” Williams said. “With work progressing as nicely as it has, the target completion date is July 31.”

Plumbing, electrical, HVAC, framing and sheetrock crews were working simultaneously inside the building Wednesday, and brick masons had all but finished the exterior brickwork.

“The only portion of brick work that’s left is the four columns on the side of the building, near the side entrance,” Williams said. “So, we’re getting close.”

The 7,500 square-foot metal building sits on a 15-acre parcel adjacent to the department’s firing range, where renovations outfitting it with 20 pistol lanes and a rifle area and a “shoot” house used for close-quarters tactical training were completed at the first of the month.

A “move-in” date has yet to be determined, Williams said.

“And as for when we’ll hold our first class, it’s all contingent on the lock-hard date of completion,” he said. “We still have to clean up and get the parking lot finished before we can begin scheduling.”