County panel advances new courthouse plans

A new Milwaukee County criminal courts building would be built at the site of the existing Safety Building at an estimated cost of at least $184 million, under a resolution approved Wednesday by a majority of the County Board's transportation and public works committee.

The county would spend up to $500,000 in 2017 to prepare a final courthouse complex master plan with details of costs of demolishing the Safety Building and constructing the new criminal courts building, as well as costs of renovating the historic courthouse, according to the resolution to be considered by the County Board on Dec. 15.

That plan also will recommend where the county could provide interim space for criminal courts and the district attorney's offices during construction of the new criminal courts building, and costs of the temporary space, county facilities management division director Jeremy Theis said Wednesday at the committee's meeting.

Supervisors Michael Mayo Sr. and Marina Dimitrijevic asked Theis why County Executive Chris Abele had not provided a financing plan for all of the possible construction and renovation projects that are under consideration.

Financing will be clarified in a project schedule to be included in the final master plan, Theis said. Options include a mix of cash, borrowing and fees, or selecting a private partner to develop just the new criminal courthouse that could then be leased or sold to the county, he said.

The Safety Building opened in 1930 and renovations required to bring it up to modern operating standards and building codes would cost up to $150 million, according to a team of consultants that recommended demolition in a report to the board this year. Among the problems: asbestos, pests and "poor air and water quality due to mechanical, electrical and plumbing inadequacies."

Several criminal courtrooms are located in former offices on lower floors of the Safety Building and now fail to meet minimum safety standards established by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the consultants' report says. And criminal defendants in custody are moved through public hallways in order to access courtrooms.

"It is just not a safe space for our staff, and for the public," Supervisor David Sartori said.

Construction of a proposed 10-story criminal courthouse with space for 26 courtrooms also would enable the county to move all criminal courts out of the 1932 county courthouse and eliminate movement of prisoners in public hallways there, the consultants' report says. Civil, probate and family courts could remain in the courthouse, along with other county offices.

The courthouse planning resolution approved by the committee Wednesday also states the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center should continue operating at its current location in Wauwatosa.