Mobile Opens Doors to New Federal Courthouse

By Roxanne Squires

MOBILE, Ala. – The grand opening of the new Federal Courthouse was recently held, marking the end of a highly anticipated project that took decades to plan.

The $89 million contract went to a team led by W.G. Yates & Sons, which oversaw the construction project from its office in Biloxi, Miss. In addition, architectural firms from Washington, D.C., URS and Hartman-Cox Architects, were also part of the team.

Amy Rice, the architect/project manager for the federal courthouse in Mobile, stated that the team designed and built the five-story courthouse together, which helped save time and money from a traditional approach in which the government accepts a design and then bids out the construction.

The 155,600-square-foot building touts a new state-of-the art design and is built to meet the long-term needs of the courts family, which includes six courtrooms, nine chambers and the latest security measures. Tenants include U.S. District Judges, U.S. District Clerk, U.S. Magistrate Court and the U.S. Marshals Service. The new courthouse also features a below grade secured tenant parking garage and is built to meet LEED Gold standards.

It cost just over 100 million dollars, which Alabama’s junior senator, Doug Jones, another former US attorney, said was well worth the cost, according to WRKG News.

The previous courthouse will now undergo $18 million in renovations – repurposing the refurbished building to hold federal bankruptcy courts, probation offices, appeals offices and congressional offices. It is expected for completion by April 2020.

The exterior of the new courthouse is built from Alabama limestone cut from the same quarry in Russellville that produced the limestone for the old courthouse 80 years ago.

Construction on the new courthouse began January 2016 and was completed June 2018.