MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo.—St. Louis County officials, joined by police and members of the Missouri State Senate delegation from the county, broke ceremonial ground Wednesday on a $46 million project that will house the county police’s new central precinct, a law enforcement intelligence center and evidence facility.

The project, a product of a state and county match of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, is scheduled to be finished by the summer of 2026. The new central precinct will replace a former renovated Quick Trip convenience store building nearby that the county has been leasing, and will be named after the late St. Louis County Police Officer Antonio Valentine, who died in the line of duty in 2021. Valentine’s family was present for Wednesday’s event.

More than 100 county police employees will work in the complex, which will be located near the intersection of Adie and Dorsett in Maryland Heights.

While St. Louis County moves forward on one project related to ARPA funding, there is still something of a standstill when it comes to other projects and programs awaiting the county's distribution of those federal funds, which must be spent by the end of 2025 or risk being clawed back by the federal government.

County Executive Sam Page and Council Chairwoman Shalonda Webb met privately with Congresswoman Cori Bush Friday in an attempt to broke a solution for millions of dollars in ARPA funds that Webb wants to give area non-profits. Page says the budget the council approved for 2024 doesn’t give the administration the money it needs to meet the county’s expected services and to process that money to the non-profits.

“I think we had a good conversation. We talked about a lot of options. We were sent to do some more research, but it was a good conversation,” Page said Wednesday. The research will involve investigating other potential funding sources, he added, with hopes of resuming conversations soon. 

“I am concerned. I also support local control and I’m just hopeful that the County Executive and the county council and all those involved can come to some solution to figure out how to get the money into the hands of people that are actually doing the work, people with boots on the ground,” said State Sen. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette.

The county council previously chose not to provide ARPA funding secured for a project to reshape the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus by consolidating academic programs on the North Campus and turnthe South Campus into a Business and Workforce District.

State Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, who secured the state ARPA funding for the police facility and $40 million for the UMSL project transformation, also sounded the alarm about spending the available federal money before the end of 2025.

“We have to raise the sense of urgency that if we don’t spend this money before the end of 2025 we lose it and we have a tremendous opportunity to really revitalize our region around transformative projects and that’s what we work hard for,” he said. “That’s what we focus on and that’s what the intention of this money was for so we gotta get it done. I’m prepared to put the fire under anyone and anything to make sure we get these jobs and projects done.” 

Williams is waiting to see if $25 million in ARPA funding from the state that would start an Engineering school at UMSL survives the governor’s budget review. A decision on that is expected before July 1. 

Page said Wednesday he would not appear at a proposed committee of the whole meeting planned for next week to publicly discuss the ongoing talks between the administration and Webb.

Webb has not responded to requests for comment.