WALKER, Mich. – After spending the last several years “packed in like sardines’’ at the Michigan State Police building in Rockford, breaking ground on a new, $57 million facility in Walker was almost cathartic for Lt. Chris McIntire.
“It’s going to be awesome,’’ said McIntire, who is using a former broom closet as his office at the state police post in Rockford. “I’ve personally moved offices three times; this new place is going to be so good for us. We’ve been packed in like sardines.’’
Discussions about a new building have been off and on for two decades; state lawmakers approved funding in December.
It will put the Rockford state police post, 6th district headquarters and the Grand Rapids forensic science laboratory all under one roof.
The 6th district oversees operations in a 14-county area. Troopers assigned to the Rockford post work in Muskegon, Ottawa and Kent counties. The new building will sit on 17 acres along Four Mile Road near Walker Avenue NW in western Kent County.
“This is a perfect setting and we’re so excited about the groundbreaking,’’ Michigan State Police Director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue said.
About half the building will house a new forensic science lab. The existing lab on Fuller Avenue NE in Grand Rapids “has major problems right now,’’ Etue said.
“To think we’ll have a state-of-the-art laboratory for forensic services is just incredible,’’ she said. “You will see a state-of-the-art facility.’’
Brom Stibitz, chief deputy director of the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, said his office will oversee construction on what he called “a much-needed facility.’’
“We strongly believe this will improve public safety in the west side of Michigan and in the state as a whole,’’ Stibitz said. “This team is strongly committed to building a first-class facility that will serve MSP for decades in the future.’’
The department will work to keep construction costs in check “and help keep this project running on a timeline that we’ve all agreed to,’’ Stibitz said.
If all goes as planned, the 100,000 square foot building will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2020, he said.
Michigan State Police will hold onto the familiar brown brick building on Northland Drive NE, which has been home to the Rockford post since the 1930s. It will be used as a detachment, Etue said.
When the post was built, Northland Drive was the main north-south route in the Grand Rapids area. The new site is much closer to Int. 96, Int. 196, U.S. 131 and M-6.
“This location right off I-96 is great for us strategically to get troopers around the post area,’’ McIntire said.
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