State attorney move to new building concludes Monday

The State Attorneys Office has been moving into its new building for weeks now, but the official first day in the new digs will be Monday.

The Haydon Burns city hall annex and the old Duval County courthouse on Bay Street are now empty.

The new office, which has been named after former State Attorney and Mayor Ed Austin, is located in the old federal courthouse at 311 W. Monroe St. The building is across Pearl Street from the new Duval County Courthouse, which opened in 2012, and is being renovated as a final piece in a judicial complex in that end of downtown.

It is a dream come true to be able to honor Mr. Austin, State Attorney Angela Corey said. We are grateful to City Councilman Doyle Carter for sponsoring the municipal ordinance which names our new office after this great Jacksonville leader.

The move was originally scheduled to occur late in 2014. It was delayed when the City Council voted to spend $1.2 million to create deposition rooms and facilities for civil citation and diversionary programs on the first floor of the 1930s-vintage building that once also held the downtown post office but has been vacant for years.

City officials overseeing the construction at one point planned to leave most of the old federal buildings first floor shelled lined with drywall but otherwise empty to keep the judicial complex inside a total $350 million budget the council set in 2008.

The fuller renovation of that floor was approved once project managers felt sure the money would meet other bills. City officials said the total cost of the renovation was not yet known, but previous estimates were about $26 million.

City spokeswoman Aleizha Batson said the move began Feb. 20 with furniture and files being relocated. Most of the staff left the old office March 3 and have been working out of the seventh floor of the Ed Ball building.

The contractor had continued to work on punch list items, which are generally minor issues to complete the project, while staff have been working in their temporary offices, Batson said.

The building received its temporary certificate of occupancy March 13, and the final certificate of occupancy will occur after the punch list items are complete.

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State attorney move to new building concludes Monday