NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark — City officials gathered with thin blue-lined shovels to finally break ground on the new North Little Rock Justice Center.
The building will be located just a few blocks from the existing police and courts building right next to Main Street and overlooking I-40.
"One-hundred thousand cars a day are going to go right through here, look at it, and they're going to say, 'that North Little Rock is a special place,'" said North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith.
North Little Rock officers are currently splayed throughout 5 different buildings in the city.
This new 82,000 square foot facility will accommodate all of them under one roof, including the municipal courts, I.T. departments, and meeting rooms.
"Right now we have no place to meet. We have no community rooms. This new facility will have a community room where groups can meet anytime they want to meet," said North Little Rock Police Chief Mike Davis. "We will have an instant command center where if we have a disaster we will be able to come to this building."
Voters passed a half-cent sales tax in 2017 to pay for this 30 million dollar project.
"The credit goes to the citizens of North Little Rock that had enough confidence in me and city council to give us the penny to pay for this," said Smith.
Mayor Joe Smith hopes it will be completed by the end of this year.