Just over three years following a ceremonial groundbreaking, construction of an expansion of Toledo’s federal courthouse has progressed far enough that the 96,000-square-foot annex is now handling court proceedings.
“It’s very nice. It’s been a long time coming,” Martin Mohler, a local lawyer, said Wednesday afternoon after visiting the new building for the first time to participate in several hearings.
“The judges should be quite pleased with it — it’s a huge improvement,” Mr. Mohler said.
The project still has a ways to go yet, though, with renovations to the existing James M. Ashley and Thomas W.L. Ashley Courthouse yet to be completed.
At the time of groundbreaking, the U.S. General Services Administration expected the new annex to be finished by the end of last year and the original building’s renovation to be done by this year’s end.
But the annex was delayed by “discovery of an unforeseen underground structure, market challenges, and changes with subcontractors.” Except for minor “punchlist” items throughout the building, plus landscaping and signs, the new building is complete, a spokesman said.
Signs are to be installed next month.
The project’s overall cost, originally $86 million, is now calculated at $95 million.
Contractor Whiting-Turner Construction Co. is starting construction in the historic courthouse’s basement this month, while a new cooling-tower structure will be finished by year’s end. The original structure “will undergo a full modernization” including a roof replacement and upgrades to mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and life-safety systems; replacement of its elevators, accessibility upgrades, and historic preservation work including facade repairs.
The building’s main entrance, with Doric columns highlighting its classical architecture, is now cordoned off while that work is performed. Courthouse visitors are directed instead to a temporary trailer housing a security-screening checkpoint followed by a walkway that leads into the west end of the annex.
The new structure features two courtrooms on each of two floors, all with vaulted ceilings and modern fixtures. Three are the same size, while one is smaller and intended for proceedings overseen by court magistrates, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick said during a brief break while he awaited jury deliberations from a trial last week.
The judges and their staffs moved into the annex Sept. 9.
People emerging from the security trailer first encounter an assembly office for jurors. To the left of that office is a concourse on the building’s Spielbusch Avenue side that is faced with glass. During the 2021 groundbreaking, Judge Helmick said the glass emphasizes Toledo’s role in the glass industry while symbolizing transparency in the justice system.
Access to the annex’s upper floor is provided both with a staircase and a bank of elevators between the courtrooms.
The court clerk’s office is located temporarily on the new structure’s third floor, but will move back to a location on the ground floor near the main entrance, the GSA spokesman said.
The original courtrooms and associated offices are to be used by the district bankruptcy court after the project’s completion.
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