High School for Law and  Justice Principal Carol Mosteit expressed her excitement Thursday as she spoke to a crowd of students, alumni, and school supporters gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking of their new school.

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“It’s been a long time coming, and it seems like forever since we did the design for the new school with the architects,” said Mosteit. “Now it has come to fruition, and we’re ready to see this new building get going.”

The $40 million facility, which is funded from real-estate proceeds under the 2012 Bond Program, will feature a new three-story building that combines a 21st-century learning environment with a realistic courtroom, crime-scene investigations lab, emergency communications center, and law library.

The new school will be centrally located on Scott Street between Pease and Coyle streets, just outside downtown Houston. The building’s close proximity to the Houston Police Department’s South Central Station will serve as a resource to students in the magnet school’s criminal justice program. The school is also located near University of Houston and Texas Southern University, with easy access to the freeway, rail, and bike trails. The target completion of the new building is the fourth quarter of 2017.

“The young people who attend High School for Law and Justice will have an advanced sense of maturity, because I believe the school attracts young people who deeply care about Houston and its future,” said City of Houston Director of Education and former HISD Trustee Juliet Stipeche, who is a graduate of the high school. “Serving as the director of education for Mayor Sylvester Turner, I feel honored and privileged to be here, because we are looking at students dedicating their lives to a better tomorrow through service to our community.”

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Several elected officials and community stakeholders were in attendance, including Houston City Council Members At-Large Mike Knox and Jack Christie, Democratic nominee for Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, HISD Chief of Police Robert Mock, and Assistant Chief of Police Michael Benford.

“This HISD institution has generations of lawyers, police officers, and judges who came from this school, so it’s a tradition that will be carried on in a brand new facility with state-of-the-art training and equipment,” said Chief Mock.

Formerly known as High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, the new campus is transitioning to its new name, High School for Law and Justice.

“I think the new building will provide my sister with the tools necessary to have a better education,” said senior Yesenia Mendez, who attends HSLECJ. “It’s going to be so amazing — huge and beautiful!”