ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.—St. Louis County Police have started moving into a new $12.5 million north precinct building on Dunn Road, roughly 10 months behind the original delivery date for the facility located near BJC Christian Hospital and Interstate 270.

The county received a temporary occupancy permit for the building late last week. The building, named after Officer Joann Liscombe, who died in the line of duty in 1991, will replace the existing precinct office at 11815 Benham. The precinct serves unincorporated North St. Louis County, Black Jack, Spanish Lake, Glasgow Village and Jamestown, Wedgewood and Barrington neighborhoods.

The new building’s original due date was Nov. 21. 2023, but that date fell through due to water and gas utility line relocation issues. The second delivery date was March 30, 2024. A third was set for Aug. 20, 2024.

Last month, County Council Chair Shalonda Webb announced plans for a committee meeting of the whole Sept. 10 to address concerns about the delays which she said included problems with black mold. A county public works spokesperson confirmed to Spectrum News that the issue was fixed several weeks ago.

At that meeting last week, county officials said they were prepared to withhold roughly $2.6 million from the primary contractor, Raineri Construction, to account for a daily fine of $1,000 for failing to hand over the building until last Friday instead of Aug. 20, as well as repairs of issues that did not conform to the project’s construction documents. In addition, the county said Raineri failed to meet goals of minority and female business participation goals. Ashley Raineri, the company’s president, told the council that her firm’s  accounting shows that it met those guidelines. A withholding of $500,000 is at stake.

Some County Council members, including Rita Heard Days, questioned county officials last week as to why the company shouldn’t be on the hook for more in the way of daily fines given the amount of delays. Ashley Raineri said some of the reasons for those delays were beyond her firm’s control.

On Monday, County Executive Sam Page told Spectrum News the county will have to live by its contract for the project.

“The penalties that are established are the penalties established in the contract, are the ones that we will enforce. There will be a penalty imposed for being late, and the contract will be responsible for paying anything that has to be done over because it wasn’t done right the first time.”

A temporary occupancy permit allowed the county to take possession of the building and start to move into the building, even as more work continues to get done, including landscaping and other projects. A police spokesperson could not say Monday how long it would take to move into the building.