The area would be built at Grand Avenue and Kalamazoo Street, which also is known as the Triangle Property.

“Right now the state is in a crisis, and we need to save every tax dollar possible,” Jones said. “We’re currently renting from MSU for $1 a year and that’s the best advantage to the tax payers.”

A separate reason for not moving to downtown Lansing is the new headquarters’ proposed location may not be the best fit for a state police main unit of operation.

“To move this to the Triangle Property in downtown Lansing — the area is too small,” Jones said. “It won’t allow for all the structure the state police headquarters needs.”

The new building could cost the state $100 million during a 25-year lease or about $3.7 million a year.

The current state police headquarters on Harrison Road, across the street from Breslin Center, costs about $500,000 a year to maintain, said Edward Woods, director of communications for the Michigan Department of Management and Budget.

“It looks cosmetically good, but the infrastructure is deteriorating,” Woods said.

After one year, the state could purchase the building without continuing the lease if they choose to do so.

“We’re in the construction phase,” Woods said. “We have 21 months to complete it, and it is expected to be completed sometime in 2009, so this would have no impact on (the 2008) fiscal year.”

MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson, is working as a developer on the project to move the headquarters. He also owns the land the new headquarters will be built on.

Ferguson has been given a signed contract saying he can go ahead with developing the area, he said.

“It doesn’t rise to the level of me responding,” Ferguson said.

The old headquarters would be torn down and possibly transformed into a parking lot, Jones said.

“Sometime in the future when we have a surplus of moneys, we can build the new headquarters,” Jones said, who has proposed a new complex be an extension of the state police location in Windsor Township.

However, the state constitution mandates the state police headquarters be located in the seat of state government — Lansing.

“(This project) is working to provide over 540 direct and indirect jobs, generate $2.2 million in gross state income and increase personal income,” Woods said.

“The story is the economic benefit. We’re creating jobs from the construction this is huge.”