Illinois Secretary of State opens new ‘flagship’ center in Loop with expanded services

CHICAGO (WGN) — A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Tuesday morning to officially open what the Illinois Secretary of State’s office is billing as a state-of-the-art “flagship center” that will offer multiple agency services under one roof for the first time.

The new, 24,000-square-foot space at 125 West Monroe Street is nearly five times larger than the office’s former “Chicago Central” location at the corner of Randolph and LaSalle streets, which permanently closed on Friday.

On the ground level, Illinoisans will find self-service kiosks and be able to take care of registration and driver’s license renewals. More complicated transactions like vehicle titles, administrative hearings and RealIDs are handled in a lower level.

Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias called the location a prototype for what can be done around the state.

“Our goal is to upgrade all of our facilities. We’ve got some more exciting news — I don’t want to step on our own message here — but you’ll see in some of the collar counties, we’ve got some really exciting openings,” he said.

Employees at the new center have been cross-trained, the secretary’s office said, which will expedite the handling of the extensive list of services.

The Flagship Center is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed weekends.