More than a year after its groundbreaking, the new 40,000-square-foot, $11 million Sheriff’s Office complex in Slidell is four months behind schedule, but its towering presence may still as be an intimidating icon to east St. Tammany criminals.

“This is an incredible undertaking, second only to the jail,” Sheriff Jack Strain said while touring the building Tuesday. “It’s the most significant building on the east side of the parish.”

Sitting on a 40-acre plot of land, the eight-acre complex on Brownswitch Road features two floors, a high ceiling, a state of the art press room with a big screen projector, interrogation rooms and a spacious entrance way boasting a sun-kissed cherry wood color circular receptionist desk lit by a glass-paned front façade. The facility is for administration only. No inmates will be housed there.

A new 40,000-square-foot sheriff'€™s office is near completion but has suffered months of setbacks. (Staff Photo by Matthew Penix)

Although the Sheriff’s office employees 700 deputies, the Slidell “complex,” as Strain calls it, will house about 200 to 250 employees from all divisions already stationed in Slidell, including traffic, payroll, internal affairs, domestic violence, investigations, human resources, juvenile, finance and more.

Currently, many Sheriff’s Office divisions, including the purchasing and domestic violence departments, are crammed into a hodgepodge of buildings in east St. Tammany, some working in modular buildings. The new building is a way to alleviate cramping.

But it might not be until late January or early February 2009 until its complete, four months after the late August, early September target date that was again moved back to December 2008, Strain said.

“I’m not disappointed,” Strain said of delays. “We’ve had hurricanes Ike and Gustav, and some bad weather. I think the contractor has done an incredible job.”

That contractor, Richard C. Lambert Consultants LLC., is working with GM&R Construction Co. Inc. of Bay St. Louis, Miss., on construction that started in November 2007. While construction costs are about $10 million, other fees such as change orders, architectural costs and furnishings have bumped the cost up to about $11 million.

One added amenity is a drive-up tax payment system for the elderly or handicapped. That system, much like an automated teller at a bank, shoots an elongated circular tube through a hydraulic piping system to a deputy inside the facility who supervises the transaction through a monitor.

Strain, who declined to outline much more specifics of the facility because he’s planning a huge media reception to showcase its grand opening, can’t help but smile when he walks from room to room.

As construction crews dart through the halls and spacious atriums, some trimming the last carpet fittings and others hanging bathroom signs and nameplates, Strain said he hopes in time the office will become the anchor of a law enforcement Mecca.

Strain bought the 40-acre plot in 2006 for $2.4 million, a steal, he said, with an actually appraised value at $5 million at the time. In time he hopes to lease the remaining 32 acres to the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs, ATF and other enforcement agencies.

A second set of blueprints, containing that master plan, was drawn up “just in case,” Strain said, adding it’s a Christmas wish list that may take years, if ever, to realize.

The facility, including land and construction costs, was funded without a bond referendum, using in-house monies collected from a windfall in sales taxes and federal grants in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Finally “its wrapping up and getting done,” Strain said.