Will County board member proposes shared office building at courthouse site – The Herald-News

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JOLIET The chairman of the Will County capital improvements committee pitched the idea of an office building in downtown Joliet that would consolidate several county departments under one roof.

The building could replace the current Will County Courthouse. County officials are pondering what to do with the building as the construction of a new courthouse is slated to begin in 2018.

County board member Ray Tuminello, R-New Lenox, who chairs the committee, gave some figures Tuesday on the demolition and renovation costs for the current courthouse based on research from Wight & Co., the architect of the new courthouse.

Repurposing and renovating the courthouse would cost about $42.8 million and demolishing it would be about $1.2 million, Tuminello said.

The cost of repurposing and renovating struck Tuminello as a bit out of touch and he favored the idea of demolishing the existing courthouse and rebuilding the structure as a county consolidated campus-style office building that would be in downtown Joliet and close to public transportation.

[It would be] not only able to house potentially our health department. But our clerk, the treasurer, the executive, land use, probation, the public defender, specialty courts all under pretty much one roof right downtown, Tuminello said.

The challenge with renovating the courthouse is that its not a pure office building and the basement is not functional, said Jason Dwyer, Wight & Co. vice president and senior project executive.

The shape of it is challenging, he said.

Nick Palmer, county executive chief of staff, said it may be helpful to revisit past discussions about consolidating county services in one location. He said the idea sounds great but there have been counterarguments in the past, such as traffic concerns.

There has been a lot of discussion. A lot of this ground has been covered before. Peoples opinions, the factors change, the board changes. We might want to pull some of those old studies in, some of those minutes, Palmer said.

Tuminello said he thought it would be nice to research the idea further and see whether it would be feasible.

He suggested that information would be used for further discussion among county board members, department staff and others.

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Will County board member proposes shared office building at courthouse site - The Herald-News