Illinois State Police broke ground Friday on a new Metro East Regional Headquarters at 2501 Lynch Avenue in East St. Louis, a roughly $55 million project meant to replace the department's aging Collinsville facility by summer 2028. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the Capitol Development Board and other officials joined ISP for the ceremony marking the start of construction on what the agency is calling a state-of-the-art regional hub.
The agency confirmed the groundbreaking in a statement posted by Illinois State Police, which said the facility will run approximately 60,000 square feet and house patrol, investigations and 911 communications under one roof. The release also describes an indoor training facility with an interactive simulator, plus a communications tower and a generator dedicated to emergency services. The project is funded as part of Rebuild Illinois, the state's $45 billion capital plan, according to the same ISP statement.
As First Alert 4 reported, the current regional headquarters sits in Collinsville, and ISP's move to East St. Louis is expected in summer 2028. State Sen. Christopher Belt, who represents Swansea, said the new headquarters represents an investment in East St. Louis and Metro East community safety, per that outlet's report.
Land Deal and Square Footage Details Don't Fully Match Up
Exactly how big the new complex will be depends on which account you read. ISP's own release puts the headquarters at about 60,000 square feet, but earlier reporting from the Belleville News-Democrat described a headquarters closer to 62,500 square feet plus a separate roughly 21,000-square-foot warehouse.
The land transaction itself is described differently depending on the source as well. ISP's statement says the state purchased the property for $1 from Lansdowne UP, while the Belleville News-Democrat's earlier coverage described the land as donated. Illinois State Police had selected the site back in June 2020, and the newspaper reported that roughly $5.5 million in state funding was made available immediately for design and engineering work, with the project expected at the time to take at least three years to complete.
Crowding at Collinsville Drove the Search for a New Site
ISP Director Brendan Kelly has said the move stems in part from the Collinsville facility becoming too crowded for District 11's growing activities, according to the Belleville News-Democrat's reporting. That district currently serves Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties out of the Collinsville post. The newspaper reported that the new headquarters is meant to consolidate criminal investigations, patrol, special operations such as SWAT, and communications functions in one location.
The Public Safety Enforcement Group, a unit that assists East St. Louis police with violent-crime investigations, will also be housed at the new headquarters, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. That group touted a 55% homicide clearance rate for the prior year, according to the same report.
Crime Figures Cited Alongside the Project
Illinois State Police's announcement also pointed to broader public-safety trends in East St. Louis. From 2020 through 2025, homicides decreased 56% and non-fatal shootings dropped 61%, the agency said in its release. ISP further reported that its special agents cleared 100% of East St. Louis homicides in 2025, which the agency described as the first time that has happened in a single year.
The headquarters project is one piece of the larger Rebuild Illinois capital plan, which funds investments in state facilities alongside roads, bridges, railroads, universities and early childhood centers, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. That six-year, $45 billion plan is projected to create and support an estimated 540,000 jobs over its lifespan, per the same source. For East St. Louis, the more immediate payoff will be a modern regional base for state troopers once construction wraps up in the summer of 2028.
