PEORIA, Ill. – On Tuesday, thanks in part to Monday’s wind, the final beam will be in place on top of the new Peoria County Health and Human Services building.
Located on the site of the former Peoria City/County Health Department on Sheridan Road, the beam-topping essentially marks the half-way point of the project, with the new HHS building set to open this time next year.
It will put the health department, the coroner’s office, the Regional Office of Education, and the county’s Sustainability Department all under one roof.
“The prior health department had a 70 year life cycle. It was definitely past the point of needing replaced,” said Rob Reneau, chair of the Peoria County Board’s Health Committee. “It had been built on about four different times. So, there was no real good point of entry and point of contact there. This is going to make it a lot more fluid for our workers.”
Some county departments which have not had enough adequate space will have it when the new HHS building is open, says Reneau.
“It’s going to absorb the coroner’s office, who’s in an old building that doesn’t satisfy the needs of his office,” said Reneau. “It’s also going to have the Regional Office of Superintendents [sic]. Currently, her main office is in the courthouse, but she has a couple of other satellite office throughout the county, because we don’t have the space.”
Reneau was referring to the Regional Office of Education.
The project, Reneau says, is also on time, despite some delays caused by demolition crews having to remove more asbestos from the old health department building than they were led to believe.
The project costs roughly $23 million.
“The residents of Peoria County own this building outright,” said Reneau. “We’re paying cash for this. We didn’t have to issue any bond debt. We didn’t have to raise taxes. This is a building that we own.”
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