EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill- The Illinois State Police will have a new headquarters for operations in the Metro East, and that home will be in East St. Louis, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Tuesday.

Two years ago, ISP signaled that its current home in Collinsville, shared with the Illinois Department of Transportation, was outdated and would be replaced.

The new location, in the area of Lynch and Caseyville Avenue in East St. Louis, already has $55 million in state funding. The project could take three or four years before opening, ISP Director Brendan Kelly told reporters Tuesday.

The state bought the land for the facility from Landsdowne UP, a local redevelopment non-profit organization looking to revitalize the Landsdowne neighborhood in East St. Louis. Kevin Green, the organization’s Director of Administration, told an audience Tuesday at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center that Landsdowne UP’s mission is to change the community one property at a time.  

Now, Landsdowne UP and the State of Illinois are betting that the state’s purchase of the property for $1 in exchange for what will become a 62,500 square foot building and a 21,000 square foot warehouse, will help change the city’s trajectory.

“ISP knows by building here our new regional Metro East Headquarters will become a sustainable anchor in the community prompting future residential and commercial development which will further improve public safety,” Kelly said.  “You can’t have criminal justice without social justice or economic justice and you can’t have economic or social justice without criminal justice. Nowhere is that more true or greater cause for hope than right here where we are today.”

The state considered more than 30 sites all within St. Clair County, with close access to interstate highways and within walking distance to public transportation. 

The project still has to go through a design phase, which officials said will include local community input.