St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced Wednesday that the county has allocated 2017’s Proposition P funds to finally move forward with the construction of two new long-awaited police precincts, including the Affton Southwest Precinct in South County.

Prop P is a public safety sales tax approved in 2017 and will fund the full $27.6 million to build new precincts in South and North counties.

The Affton-Southwest Precinct, Precinct 3, is in a leased space at 5030 Griffin Road due to the old precinct becoming a health and safety hazard. The precinct moved to its current temporary location in 2019, before that it was temporarily located in Crestwood. The original precinct at 9928 Gravois Road, closed in 2018 due to mold.

The site of the new precinct is located at 11520 Gravois Road, and will be more than 15,000 square feet — triple the size of the leased space. The location was formerly the Sappington Garden Shop. Page said construction could begin as soon as Oct. 3 and finish in about a year, setting the precinct for a late 2023 or early 2024 opening.

Precinct 1 in North County is also moving from a leased space to a 17,300 square foot building, with construction set to begin in November.

The South County project was in jeopardy in late 2020, with the county nearly deciding to move forward with just the North County location and put Precinct 3 on hold. The situation caused 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas to seek and secure a deal with Page to continue the project.

Both projects exceed goals set by Page for minority and women-owned business participation, with around 50 percent participation for both.