Warren County Courthouse project should break ground in August
Teresa Kay AlbertsonThe Warren County Courthouse redevelopment project is now in the hands of contractors.
The county began accepting bids on 13 contracts that will make up the estimated $29.9 million project.
Bids will be reviewed by county officials in early July and contracts awarded by the end of the month.
The two-story, 80,000-square-foot building will be almost exactly the same height as the former building, Michael Lewis, a team leader with Shive Hattery, the design firm contracted for the project, told the Indianola City Council earlier this month.
Demolition of the former courthouse is on schedule and should be completed in July with the new building breaking ground in August, Lewis said.
The project is expected to be completed by May 2021.
Lewis said his team was “in the final throes of technical drawings,” but he assured city officials that the building, including the county jail, would be visually appealing.
He said the jail’s exercise yard would not be visible from the street. Natural lighting will be provided by skylights rather than from windows, he said.
Indianola officials questioned whether the justice center’s gated parking would be open to the public. Lewis said it would be up to county officials, but he said that a decision had not been made.
Indianola is nearing the end of a streetscape design project that will complement the courthouse project. Some citizens and business owners have raised concerns about the elimination of downtown parking spaces that could result from the changes.
Lewis also said that no decision has been made about including a time capsule in the new courthouse.
The former courthouse held two time capsules: one from 1938, when the building was originally constructed, and one from 1988, when a jail addition was made. Both are in storage with the county.
Courthouse history
Warren County’s first courthouse was a log cabin, built in 1851, that measured 20 feet by 30 feet. In 1968, a Victorian-style structure was built, but after years of neglect, parts of the building were sagging and eventually collapsed. After a failed referendum in 1936, a vote in 1938 passed to build a new courthouse. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. In 2016, the Iowa 5th Judicial Court, located in the building, closed the court offices due to health concerns associated with the building. The jail closed in 2018 due to building code violations.
Teresa Kay Albertson is a lead news reporter covering Warren County for the Indianola Record Herald and the Des Moines Register. She can be reached by email at talbertson@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8561. Follow Teresa on Twitter @TeresaAlberts11.
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