A $25 million police headquarters building may end up also producing one unique welcome sign to Lawrence.

City commissioners are closer to signing off on a deal to purchase 47 acres of ground near the West Lawrence interchange on the Kansas Turnpike at 100 McDonald Drive. But city officials also are releasing more details about how portions of the property also could be used to house a new teen center for the Boys & Girls Club, a family fun center with mini-golf and other such uses, and even a small city park.

“I think this whole development could be a great, great red carpet for people as they come to town,” said City Commissioner Jeremy Farmer, who has been working to put together the deal.

Commissioners will discuss moving forward on the police headquarters project at their 6:35 p.m. meeting Tuesday at City Hall. Included in that discussion will be a previously discussed proposal to put on the November ballot a 0.25 percent sales tax to pay for the headquarters project.

Commissioners will be asked to sign a letter of intent to purchase the 47-acre site, which is on the east side of McDonald Drive across from the Hallmark Cards production plant. The vacant site, which is owned by Hallmark, would cost the city $2.25 million to purchase. That’s about $1 million less than what Hallmark previously had sought for the property. The sale of the property only will occur if voters approve the required sales tax to fund the project in November.

The city needs only about 15 acres for the police headquarters, but commissioners are proposing to sell or donate the excess property for other uses. Hallmark has not been willing to sell the city a smaller parcel. Here’s a look at what’s been proposed:

• The Lawrence school district would purchase about five acres to construct a warehouse/maintenance facility on the site, which is adjacent to the district’s administrative headquarters.

• The Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence would like the city to donate five to seven acres of property to house a potential teen center. In a letter to commissioners, Colby Wilson, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club, said he’s in the early stages of planning for a capital campaign for such a center. If built, it could include a gymnasium, a commercial kitchen, a technology center, a performing arts room and several multipurpose spaces. The organization currently has room to serve about 60 youths at its current location. A new location could serve 150 to 200, with a particular emphasis on teens.

• Lawrence businessman Glen Lemesany has expressed an interest in purchasing 10 acres to build a family fun center on the site. Lemesany was the developer behind the proposed fun center near Clinton Parkway and Inverness Drive that eventually was discarded after neighbors opposed the plans. In his letter to City Hall, Lemesany said he still would like to have a miniature golf course, electric go-carts, batting cages and a two-story clubhouse that would include kids arcade games on the ground floor and an adult arcade and mini-bowling area with a beer bar on the second floor. With this site, Lemesany said he’s also interested in creating about a three-acre paintball course.

• Lawrence Memorial Hospital has an interest in seeing Woody Park, a small city park just north of the hospital’s parking lot, relocated to the site. Under the current proposal, the hospital would pay the city to have Woody Park relocated to about five acres on the southeast corner of the site. That would allow the hospital to expand its parking area.

City commissioners are being asked to choose the Hallmark site despite owning two pieces of ground — one at VenturePark in eastern Lawrence and another near Wakarusa and Overland Drive near Free State High — that architects have said could accommodate the police headquarters.

But police department leaders have said they like the location of the Hallmark site the best, and commissioners thus far have agreed.

The city’s police chief has said officers generally don’t respond to calls from the police station, but rather from their patrol vehicles that are spread throughout the city. But a central location for the headquarters cuts down on drive time for when officers have to go to the headquarters to log evidence or file reports, Farmer said.

“Plus, I think the central location demonstrates to the community that no one part is going to be served better or more frequently than another,” said City Commissioner Bob Schumm. “It is saying we want the entire city to be safe.”

Ultimately, voters will have the final say on the project. At their Tuesday meeting, commissioners are being asked to approve a resolution that would place a sales tax question on the November ballot.

As commissioners discussed last week, the favorite option appears to be a 0.25 percent sales tax that would last for a maximum of 10 years, but could expire more quickly if the tax pays off the bonds for the headquarters sooner.

City staff members have told commissioners the ballot language can be written to ensure the tax will automatically expire and that the proceeds of the tax can only be used to fund the police headquarters project.

Schumm said he hasn’t yet heard much public comment about the tax proposal since it was first discussed last week.

“But I think people generally will support the project if we can show them that it will deliver good long-term value,” Schumm said.

Farmer said he intends to support putting the sales tax issue on the ballot but said he still wishes the city could find a way to proceed with the project without going to a citywide vote.

“I have never thought the right package for this is a referendum, but I understand people’s reticence given what happened with Rock Chalk Park,” Farmer said, referring to controversy over a lack of a public vote for a new recreation center in northwest Lawrence. “But I think we’re putting ourselves in a precarious position if this doesn’t pass.”