South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster will visit Greer on May 19 to help dedicate the new Greer Police and Court Complex — a facility that has quickly become a cornerstone of downtown Greer.

Part of the City of Greer’s $21 million construction project that includes a new City Hall scheduled to open in July and a spacious new City Park slated for an early fall opening, the Police and Court Complex opened for business on April 29.

"This is an opportunity to celebrate a facility that will serve the city well for many, many years. I’m very pleased that Attorney General Henry McMaster will join many other special guests for the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and the entire building will be accessible to the public during a Community Open House," Greer City Administrator Ed Driggers said.

Adjacent to the Greer Fire Department’s main station, the 37,188-square-foot facility is connected to pre-existing Greer Police Department workspace and detention center. The new complex provides needed space for GPD administrative offices, work rooms, locker rooms, and communications services, as well as first-floor offices and work space for Greer Municipal Court and Greenville County Summary Court.

"We certainly appreciate what the city has done for us. Members of the department had been spread out all over the city. Now that we have the new building, people can come to one place and find every one of us," Greer Police Chief Dan Reynolds said.

Perhaps the jewel of the new complex is a spacious courtroom with state-of-the-art audio and video capabilities. The first municipal court date was May 7.

"To say I’m excited doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel," Municipal Judge Henry J. Mims said. "We’ve been looking forward to this facility since I got here in 1995 and it’s beyond what we dreamed of, to be honest. I was in a federal court last week and, frankly, it didn’t compare."

Construction began on the Police and Court Complex, which was designed by the Greenville, S.C. architectural firm Craig, Gaulden, and Davis, Inc., in May of 2007. The general contractor for the project, SYS Constructors, Inc. of Greenville, completed the building more than a month before its scheduled occupancy.

McMaster, who was elected to South Carolina’s Attorney General post in 2002, will be the featured speaker for the dedication ceremony. A three-hour Community Open House will begin at 4 p.m.