A year ago, the Elkhart County Council voted to move the county’s seven courts out of downtown Elkhart and Goshen and put them in a new building near the intersection of Reliance Road and U.S. 33 in Goshen.
Tuesday afternoon, county officials were at that intersection to break ground on the new consolidated courts facility. County Board of Commissioners Vice President Frank Lucchese said it’s a project that’s been in the works since the 1990s.
“The questions back then – they were the same as they are today,” he said. “How can we best serve the citizens of every city and town in Elkhart County? How can we make our judicial process more convenient, more efficient, and less expensive?”
County officials have said the Reliance Road site is equidistant from downtown Elkhart and Goshen, and the new building will be more efficient and easier to secure than the downtown courthouses.
However, both Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson and Goshen Mayor Jeremy Stutsman opposed the move last year, citing concerns about the economic impact of removing the courts from downtown and public transportation to the new facility.
The commissioners hired Indianapolis-based Performance Services to design the facility back in January and released a site plan in June.
The plan calls for a 173,000 square-foot, four-story building with 13 individual courtrooms. The project is expected to cost roughly $94 million.
Construction on the new consolidated courts facility is expected to be completed by mid-2024.
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.
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