Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The Bucks County Justice Center will be expanding.
The mostly unfinished fifth floor will be adding one large ceremonial courtroom, one jury courtroom, three jury deliberation rooms, one hearing room, two conference rooms, and three holding cells.
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Construction on the project is expected to start in May and will run for 48 weeks. Contractors will be working on the fifth floor build out between 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., Bucks County Project and Diversity Officer Bernard Griggs said.
On Wednesday, the Bucks County Commissioners approved hiring Guy M. Cooper Inc., of Willow Grove, Montgomery County, for mechanical work on the project for $215,000, the same firm for plumbing work for $133,000, and Guy M. Cooper for the fire protection systems at $123,000. NextGen Security, of Chester County, was hired for security electronics for $157,735, and TE Construction Services, of Warminster, for $3.7 million for general construction.
No bidders submitted for the electrical work and the county will again go out for bids for that part of the project, Griggs said.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
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The roughly $90 million Bucks County Justice Center in the heart of Doylestown Borough opened in 2015. The 285,000-square-foot building opened with the fifth floor mostly unfinished, a controversial decision at the time.
Then-Bucks County Director of Operations Jerry Anderson called the Justice Center a “100-year facility” that would grow with the county, citing the uncompleted space on the fifth floor.
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Since opening and as several new judges have been added, the Justice Center has lacked enough courtroom space at times.
Bucks County Chief Operating Officer Margaret McKevitt told LevittownNow.com last year that the current courtrooms on the floors below the fifth floor leave little extra room on a busy day. In the age of COVID-19, physical distancing only exacerbated the problem.
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