Courthouse Backlog

Increasingly Complex County Projects Address Southeast's Population Growth

by Scott Judy

Like other sectors in the Southeast, the construction market for county and municipal courthouse complexes is being fueled by the region's well-documented population growth, with a range of large, urban and smaller, rural counties providing a steady stream of projects.

The politically oriented sector has experienced some recent high-profile disappointments, however. In late 2004, Jacksonville, Fla., Mayor John Peyton terminated a team consisting of Skanska USA Building and Cannon Design that had won contracts for construction of the $200 million-plus Duval County Courthouse, which had actually broken ground in April 2003. That project is still on hold.

More recently, Engineering News-Record reported that county commissioners in Manatee County, Fla., terminated Turner Construction from its justice center project in Bradenton when the firm's GMP price jumped $10 million to $68 million, due to materials price increases. Not knowing what Centex Construction's price would be with new materials costs, the commissioners nevertheless voted unanimously to enter into negotiations with Centex.

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Those are proving to be the exceptions to the rule. In Charlotte, for example, the joint venture of FN Thompson of Charlotte and Turner Construction are progressing toward a July 2006 completion target for Mecklenburg County's new $115 million Judicial Center.

Additional projects of note include:

• Atlanta-based Choate Construction Co. is targeting a February completion for its $24.2 million Coweta County Justice Center in Newnan, Ga.;
  
  
• Turner Construction Co is constructing the $26 million Escambia County Courthouse Block Renovation project in Pensacola, Fla., that should be complete by next July;
  
  
• Turner's also building the $20 million Whitfield County Courthouse in Dalton, Ga., where it's heading for a May 2006 completion date;
  
  
• ACI of Tampa recently started on its $15 million West Pasco Judicial Center renovation and expansion in New Port Richey - one of the biggest projects of this type within the Southeast to start in 2005, according to McGraw-Hill Construction Research and Analytics.
  

"There's no reason to expect that given that population (growth) that there won't continue to be a steady growth (in the market) as each county responds to their changing situation," said Douglas Kleppin, executive associate with architecture firm HLM/Heery in Orlando.

"There's been some ebb and flow, but it's still a strong market and has been for the last five to seven years," he added.

Bill Swidorski, Turner Construction's business development manager for Georgia in Atlanta, agreed that population growth was the main market driver.

"In Georgia, there's been a lot of growth, especially around metropolitan Atlanta," he said. "And with that growth, the counties have gone through growing pains in both their jail and courthouse facilities, which typically have been getting too small. There's not enough square footage for the amount of court space needed."

Jeff Schletty, project manager on Choate's Coweta County project, added: "It appears there are more of these types of projects in the planning stages."

Figures from McGraw-Hill Construction Research and Analytics point out that the vast majority of new work is occurring in Florida and Georgia.

For its capitols/courthouses/city halls category, McGraw-Hill reported that approximately $308 million of this type of work started construction in 2004 within the four-state territory of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Of that amount, Florida or Georgia contracts accounted for nearly $273.5 million, with Florida's total at nearly $152 million, and Georgia's $121.5 million.

Also, while that four-state total was the lowest figure for the region since 2000, Florida's and Georgia's levels were at or near five-year highs.

Project Owners

While many of the projects are similar in concept and function, a range of experience and needs among the project owners in this market - not to mention the desires of each individual judge - denies a cookie-cutter approach.

"The counties are all at different stages and have different needs and different means by which they can fund," Kleppin said. "That drives a lot of their decisions about what they can afford. We're currently involved with courthouse projects in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia, and they all have their own sets of political and property issues."

A county's construction experience affects the approach to both winning and building the project, added Swidorski.

"Some counties are comfortable with the (construction) process because they've gone through it before, but a lot of small counties, when they decide they need a new jail or new courthouse, those are probably the two biggest and most sophisticated buildings they're (ever) going to build, and they only do it once every 20 or 30 years, so it's a big deal for those counties and those owners," he said.

Paul Meadows, project executive for Batson-Cook Co. of West Point, Ga., agreed that efforts such as the $23 million Troup County Government Services Center in Lagrange, Ga., are often "once-in-a-lifetime" projects that local citizens "have been very excited about and talked about for years."

There are quite a few of these more rural counties moving forward with such projects.

"Some of the smaller counties are growing very fast, and typically their facilities are a lot smaller," said Swidorski.

Such owners may emphasize hiring a local contractor, too. Said Mike Cobb, Troup County's county manager, "By going local as much as possible, we feel we're helping our local economy."

Even so, firms such as Turner have been successful in the more rural regions, such as with its projects in Escambia and Whitfield counties.

For a designer working with smaller counties, HLM's Kleppin said, "You mentor, you advise and you gain their trust and respect as you move through that process."

Al Murro, director of security for HLM/Heery in Orlando, said it's not just an issue of the size of the county that differentiates projects. Similarly sized counties in close proximity to each other can have widely different issues to address.

"I get asked the question, What is everybody else doing?," Murro said. "Well, everybody else is doing what fits in with how they run that particular county. You'd be surprised how differently they operate. Each of them has their own needs and their own set of issues of how far outdated they are and if they've just come to that breaking point where something's got to be done."

Security

One common component that's usually a must is security. Whereas some older existing courthouses truly had minimal protection, today's new and renovated structures showcase considerable improvements.

On HLM's recent project in Haywood County, N.C., for example, Murro said, "I think there was one key and one lock on the front door of that building. Their new building now has a command center, CCTV, the ability to move throughout the building with card access and access-control systems. They don't have every bell and whistle, but they've taken a giant leap forward."

Technology is also fostering a trend toward video arraignments, which can further enhance a facility's security.

"The judge can sit in the courthouse and through video go through the arraignment process," Murro said. "A lot of counties, even those with a limited budget, are starting to look at that."

For contractors, these technological advances can prove to be the most difficult to handle. On the Coweta County project, for example, Choate's Schletty said "coordinating the myriad of security systems" was the most challenging task.

Another trend involves locating the new courthouse complex in close proximity to the county jail. Some owners are examining that concept to reduce costs related to transporting inmates and sheriff's office staffing.

Overall, Choate's Schletty commented, "Owning and maintaining one of these complex facilities takes a very specialized and sophisticated operating and maintenance program. Choate believes it is critical for owners to find the right people to run these buildings."