The Village of South Elgin selected Kluber Architects + Engineers to design their new Police Station on Village-owned property. Completed in November of 2024, the facility is a significant upgrade for the Village, whose Police Department was previously working out of a 6,000 square foot building.

This particular project initially began as a Master Planning exercise for a Municipal Campus, including the Village’s City Hall, Police Station, and Parks and Recreation Center. Our team first met in November 2021 to discuss the intent of the study and understand the future facility needs. As part of this Master Planning exercise, it was determined that to accommodate their long range goals of a municipal campus, the Police Department would have to be their first priority.

Engaging the Staff

Before the design phase of this project, our team took the South Elgin team on tours of local Police Department facilities to get an understanding of the function, scale, and aesthetic of their buildings. The Village appreciated this component of the project because it gave their Facilities Managers opportunities to speak with their peers at other facilities and understand their building maintenance needs before designing their new Police Department.

The New Facility

South Elgin’s new two-story Public Safety Center features several critical areas. Just a few of those spaces include:

• Several dedicated social work spaces
• A fitness center
• An officer wellness room
• A Mother’s Room
• State-of-the-art evidence processing and storage spaces
• Many multi-purpose spaces, such as conference rooms and storage rooms
• A dedicated roll call room

In addition to the spaces above, the new Public Safety Center features locker rooms for both male and female officers, separate work spaces for all six sergeants, and a break room. There is also an outdoor plaza that honors those who served in the military, with paver bricks engraved with the names of veterans. The new facility was designed and constructed without a tax increase for the Village.

There are 35 sworn officers in the Village of South Elgin, which includes the Chief, two Deputy Chiefs, and six sergeants. With their eye on the future, the Village hopes to add additional officers to their staff. The newly-built Public Safety Center will equip the Village with the means to grow and serve their community for years to come.