Project Team
Owner: Alachua County Board of County Commissioners
Location: Gainesville, Fla.
Cost: $18.4 million
Contractor: PPI Construction Management, Gainesville
Architect: DLR Group, Orlando

PPI Construction Management of Gainesville oversaw the construction of this new four-story facility, located on a six-block site on South Main Street in Gainesville.

The courthouse space includes 10 new courtrooms for criminal court, one video courtroom for various hearings and 10 criminal court justice office suites with accompanying support space.

The building also provides five new civil and family courtrooms, five large-volume hearing rooms and 11 family and civil court judicial office suites. Notably, according to the contractor, the Alachua County Courthouse is one of the first county courthouses in the state to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

The Alachua County Courthouse was built on a redeveloped downtown site. Significant demolition of older buildings without historic significance was required. PPI managed the complete deconstruction of these facilities, which included the salvage and recycling of multiple construction materials.

In accordance with LEED standards, construction waste was categorized and collected to minimize the impact on area landfills. Some of this waste was recycled for use on the site, and other materials were recycled for use on other projects.

Funded by a one-year, one-cent sales tax, the project received considerable scrutiny.

As it neared completion, Alachua County Manager Randall Reid credited PPI for not only keeping the project under budget but also for exceeding the owner's 15 percent goal for participation of small and minority subcontractors. The contractor was actually able to achieve a 28 percent participation rate for small and minority contractors.