Boise-based contractor McAlvain Construction Inc. has begun construction of a new $12 million multiuse complex in Coeur d'Alene for the Idaho State Police.

The complex will include a 40,000-square-foot structure, named the Linda Huff Region I office building after a trooper killed in the city 10 years ago, plus a 10,000-square-foot building for impounded vehicles and a 3,000-square-foot outbuilding that will be used for evidence storage, ISP sources say. Also, a memorial honoring Huff will be erected on the facility grounds. The complex is being developed at 615 W. Wilbur, and is expected to be completed by June 2009.

The building will house the state police's regional dispatch center and forensic laboratory, says ISP spokesman Capt. Clark Rollins, who's overseeing the project for the agency. It also will provide office space for patrol and investigative personnel, commercial vehicle inspectors, and police officer standards and training specialists, who train and certify all police officers in Idaho, he says.

"Basically, everything that ISP does will be under one roof," Rollins says. The new building is expected to improve the efficiency of ISP's Region I personnel, who serve Idaho's five northern counties, and 75 to 80 employees will work there, he says. Currently, all of ISP's Region I operations are located in leased space in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls, he says.

LCA Architects PA, of Boise, designed the project.

The ISP Region I dispatch center currently is located at 602 W. Prairie, in Coeur d' Alene. The ISP's laboratory in Coeur d' Alene currently is located at 1000 Hubbard in space the agency is leasing from the University of Idaho, Rollins says. ISP detectives for the region are currently at 250 Northwest Boulevard, in Coeur d' Alene. All of those personnel and operations will be moved to the new office building, he says. ISP also has been leasing storage space, which it no longer will need, he says.