Mecklenburg County's New Courthouse

$143 Million Project Heading for December Completion

By Scott Judy

In downtown Charlotte, it's not hard to see what's driving the city's current building boom.

The numerous modern-looking, privately funded and often-catchy-named condominiums and mixed-use projects that appear from around every corner are a ready symbol of a new, robust chapter in the Queen City's development. But public investment is also adding to the vigorous amount of construction activity currently under way. The $200 million Charlotte Arena, for example, is just nearing its one-year anniversary in use.

And taking final shape nearby is the $143 million Mecklenburg County Courthouse.

The courthouse is being built by a joint venture between Turner Construction Co., F.N. Thompson Co. and The Walter B. Davis Co., all of Charlotte. The structure, which will modernize many of the judicial-related services that Mecklenburg County currently offers, is heading toward a December completion. Construction contract value is $115 million

With 39 new courtrooms - four of which are being built as shells for future expansion - as well as administrative space, 35 holding cells and other amenities, the new, 568,000-sq.-ft. courthouse will centralize functions from about four different buildings the county is using currently. The new building sits in front of an existing county courthouse facility, along Fourth and Trade streets.

Additionally, a tunnel - constructed as design work on the new courthouse was still progressing - connecting the new courthouse with an existing jail located across the street should greatly enhance the county's ability to transport inmates.

Details, Details

Turner/Thompson/Walter B. Davis broke ground on the project during Memorial Day weekend of 2003. KMW Associates of Boston is the design architect. SchenkelShultz of Charlotte is the local architect and contract administrator.

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The nine-story building is concrete frame for the first couple of floors and structural steel from there to the top. Robert Hurd, project manager for Turner, was complimentary of the work of steel subcontractor Southern Steel Co. of Charlotte.

"We developed a really tough schedule for the foundation and for the superstructure - a really tough schedule," Hurd said. "And they met that schedule."

The project topped out in August 2004, approximately 14 months after work first started.

The exterior of the new courthouse is traditional and in keeping with public monumental courthouses, with granite and limestone making up the majority of the building's skin.

"The first couple of floors are predominantly flamed granite and limestone takes you up most of the rest of the building, with some accent of the granite," Hurd said. The limestone is a hard limestone that comes from Minnesota. R. Bratti Associates of Alexandria, Va., was the subcontractor that handled this exterior stone work.

KMW Associates had specified the exterior stone after having utilized it on a similar courthouse building in Boston. And like that facility in Boston, Mecklenburg County's new judicial center would be shaped like a triangle in order to accommodate the site.

The two buildings were so similar that KMW instructed the project team to use that Boston courthouse as a guidepost for the budget, Hurd said.

"We were trying to forge ahead with confirming a budget, and they told us to use those details," he added.

The building's lobby and entrance area will feature an atrium-like effect, with massive elevators located there. Also, hanging in the middle of the lobby will be a piece of dynamic public art that will use wires to mimic faces of people of both national and local fame. It will have the capability to simulate different faces and can be reconfigured automatically with the touch of a button, Hurd said.

Different, Tough

The new county courthouse is different from those quickly emerging condos and mixed-use projects in more than just a symbolic way. Whereas many such projects feature floors that regularly repeat for ease of construction, a courthouse is nothing like that.

Just ask Hurd. Despite experience in a wide variety of project types over a long history with Turner, this project was his first courthouse, and he said it has been a learning experience.

"I knew it was going to be difficult, but I never anticipated it was going to be this tough," he added. "There's nothing square. It's either round or a triangle."

In addition to the irregular shape, the building's function and level of finish is challenging as well.

"It's a complicated and complex building with a lot of intricate details and sequencing," Hurd said. "You can't do this before you do that. Everything seems to involve three or four contractors. It's so far removed from a rectangular building structure. Every floor's been different.

"There are some very complex relationships of the components that nobody fully analyzed initially or could have. And some of these dependencies and relationships created some piecemealing of the construction. It's so layered. The number of people involved (in any one area) blows your mind."

Robert Lutz, senior project manager for Mecklenburg County's real estate services department, said the project required a great deal of coordination.

Jim Traylor, superintendent for Turner, agreed. He estimated that each courtroom requires roughly two to three months to finish out. Part of that comes from the wide range of communication and data technology included in each courtroom.

"The complexity of it is getting everything to interface, and making sure that you get all of your communication and data interfacing and it all comes together and the connectivity's there," Traylor said.

For example, the courthouse and jail across the street will have communication link that will enable officials to transfer critical information.

Some of the most complex relationships revolve around the courtrooms themselves. Hurd said a 30-person task force was set up to design the judges' chambers and courtrooms, and all decisions required a two-thirds majority vote.

Hurd expects the project to complete in time for the county to move in about the first week of January, and for the end result to be a positive one.

"It's been a rewarding experience," he said.

Lutz, with Mecklenburg County, was hopeful as well.

"The county will end up with a very unique and architecturally satisfying structure," he said. "Everyone will have something to be proud of."