Peyton Struggles: The Truth about the Courthouse

[thelakelander]

The Barnett Building is way to small to accomodate their needs.  I would not be suprised if its smaller or around the same size as the Bay Street courthouse.

[Jason]

I love the idea, however, the Barnett building is not close to being large enough.  The current building is larger. 

BTW, welcome to MetroJacksonville!

[mtraininjax]

Don Moran and the judges will demand new. Yeah it blows, but they figure they have lived in a building that has more band-aids than the old City Hall, so they need a newer structure. The City should take over the Barnett building and use it for City offices that were outsourced around town, bring them all back downtown, where City services should be managed from.

[ChriswUfGator]

Don Moran and the judges will demand new. Yeah it blows, but they figure they have lived in a building that has more band-aids than the old City Hall, so they need a newer structure. The City should take over the Barnett building and use it for City offices that were outsourced around town, bring them all back downtown, where City services should be managed from.

You know they're just guna knock it down...

[fsujax]

I think the City should give the building to Vestcor and let them do the same as they did with 11E and the Carling.

[Lunican]

At this point, it seems as though Peyton's plan to walk through the courthouse before he leaves office is an impossibility.

I guess the landfill deal really will be his legacy project.

[stjr]

Oh my God!  Peyton's folly to break ground.  It's hard to believe this mutant building is actually going to be allowed to come to life.  I wonder if Peyton has figured out that it's not vertical yet. 

New Duval courthouse could break ground soon, cost $224 million
The controversial $350 million project would open in 2012.

    * By David Hunt
    * Story updated at 12:45 AM on Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2009

Construction of the Duval County Courthouse could start next month as city officials review a $224.2 million construction plan.

That price, developed last week, is in the ballpark of a $223.6 million estimate reported earlier.

Combined with more than $60 million that's already been spent, as well as projected costs to relocate the state attorneys and public defenders, the project is expected to come within the $350 million cost ceiling the City Council set last year.

Mayor John Peyton's spokeswoman, Misty Skipper, said the $224.2 million would construct an 800,000-square-foot building in LaVilla. If the city gets a crew working next month, Skipper said, the building would be built by the time Peyton leaves office in 2011 and open for business by May 2012.

The city expects to pay $15 million to furnish the building and roughly $23 million to renovate the Old Federal Courthouse and Ed Ball Building to relocate state attorney and public defender staffs.

The $224.2 million plan goes before the city's contract proposals committee on Thursday, Skipper said.

The project has been one of the more controversial for the city in recent memory. Earlier this year, a grand jury scolded the city for wasting time and money but found nothing criminal.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-28/story/new_duval_courthouse_could_break_ground_soon_cost_224_million

[Keith-N-Jax]

Key word is could start next month!!!

[thelakelander]

I wonder how much will rerouting Monroe Street and improving the moonscape around the building add to the project's costs?

[mtraininjax]

We all know how the Mayor loves his "estimates". Bottom line is the taxpayers will get screwed with this boon-doggle.

[tufsu1]

sorry, but its hard to believe that taxpayers would be in better shape pouring money into the existing building for years to come.

[stjr]

sorry, but its hard to believe that taxpayers would be in better shape pouring money into the existing building for years to come.

I don't see many, if any, posts advocating for keeping the current courthouse.  What people object to is the poor design, expense, and project management for a new one.  What we are getting is an ugly, bloated, city space hogging, piggishly priced project wallowing in the mud!    Oink, oink.

[thelakelander]

You mean this isn't state of the art?



That precast concrete corner will look monumental for traffic coming off of I-95, via Monroe Street.   Serious though, hopefully it will spur development in the surrounding area.  That section of DT is worse than London during 28 Days Later.

[stjr]

The courthouse comedy continues...

Here is a suggestion: On opening day, the first trial held in the building should be over the fiasco of this building.  We need to find all the guilty parties!

The building looks like it is trying way too hard to impress.  Nothing subtle about it at all.  Those ledges will make great homes for the pigeons.   

Design still being debated for new Duval courthouse complex
Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-08-11/story/design-still-being-debated-new-duval-courthouse-complex-0

By Matt Galnor

The days of arguing over a dome on the new Duval County Courthouse are gone.

But bridges and columns?

They are still on the table — and points of contention — despite the visible progress on the $350 million court complex.

All of the original plans included the entrance and a facade on the renovated old federal courthouse to face the new building. The old building, home mostly to the State Attorney’s Office, would have columns that would tie into the new building.

But the city wants to scrap those plans because the main entrance of the new courthouse has been moved to Monroe Street.

Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran, though, says not keeping the main entrance on the side and building a facade cheapens the building and is short-sighted.

The city would save $250,000 by making the entrance to the old building on Monroe Street, where there’s already a door from when it was a federal courthouse and Post Office.

A committee comprised mostly of city officials that oversees architecture on the project will meet on Friday  to discuss the issue.

Also on the agenda is the $700,000 walkway State Attorney Angela Corey had been pushing for to connect the two buildings at the third floor.

The state Division of Historical Resources wants changes in the bridge design, saying right now it looks too much like the new building and doesn’t meet preservation standards, according to a letter sent to the city. The state suggests changing the windows and the shade of the concrete on the bridge to tie it more into the old courthouse.

Corey’s office has stressed the importance of the bridge for safety of prosecutors. Moran was opposed to it but has since relented. Of course, if money is the issue on the facade and building entrance, Moran suggests they could take the bridge back out.

“Put a rope swing up there,” he quipped, “and they can build a facade.”
Moran said he’s looking at the two-building complex long-term.

“Why would you all of a sudden make it look like crap for $250,000?” he said.

The area where Moran wants the entrance is now a loading dock. The judge said Corey is against making it an entrance “so she can park some cars there.”

Without the facade, the State Attorney’s Office would have 25 to 30 parking spots. With it, that would be cut to about 10, said Marty Terry, an investigator who also works on special projects for the office.

Although the parking spots are a benefit, they have never been a reason Corey opposes the facade, Chief Assistant State Attorney Dan McCarthy said. The judges have parking under the courthouse and prosecutors also need that security, McCarthy said.

Investigators and others also go to and from the building several times a day, and walking a block or two to a parking garage isn’t efficient, McCarthy said.

There is such a small corridor between the two buildings that the columns on the side would be a waste of money, he said. “It’d be like making the side of your house fancy when all you use is the front and the back.”

City spokeswoman Misty Skipper said the city’s decision is strictly a money issue.

“If it were cheaper to build it in the current loading dock, we would build it in the current loading dock,” she said.

The budget for the renovation is about $20 million. The $250,000 savings would come off of the total cost and would not be used to cover any overruns in other phases of the project, Skipper said.

City Council President Jack Webb, who is on the architecture committee, said the facade cost may not be a high percentage of the overall project but this issue is perception.

Duval County voters approved a $190 million courthouse in 2000, part of the $2.2 billion Better Jacksonville Plan funded by a half-cent sales tax increase. The original design, which included a dome that could be seen from Interstate 95, proved to be too expensive.

The project has stopped and started on various budget issues, and now has a total price tag of $350 million.

It is scheduled to be finished in summer 2012 — more than six years late.

[brainstormer]

stjr, you forgot to highlight the part where they argue about parking spaces.  I guess no one wants to park in the garage!  They will all be towed in with the parking brake on. LOL