Patti Dozier
THOMASVILLE — Employees of offices that will move late this year from the cramped historic Thomas County Courthouse to new quarters in the Thomas County Judicial Center will be awash in space.
Visitors will enter a secure area at the main entrance, then walk into a lobby and atrium featuring a dramatic skylight.
A staircase and elevators will take visitors to the mezzanine and to three courtrooms and the district attorney’s office on the second floor.
Slatted steel bannisters topped by cherry wood will be installed on the front staircase and along the mezzanine.
“It will be two-way traffic here,” said Lyndall Knight, Thomas County government building/maintenance supervisor, demonstrating how visitors will pass through a metal detector at the lobby/atrium entrance.
Just inside the main entrance, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office security personnel will be housed in glass-enclosed quarters.
Voter registration is on the first floor, along with Probate Court, which will more than double in space to 3,000 square feet.
The office of the clerk of court will realize a dramatic space increase — from 2,000 square feet in the historic courthouse to 4,700 square feet in the new building. For a number of years, the office has been without adequate storage and vault space.
The office of the clerk of court, which is on the first floor, fronts on ceiling-to-floor windows that face Madison Street.
A long, secure corridor leads from the sallyport on the west side of the building. Elevators off the corridor will take prisoners to four holding cells on the second floor near three courtrooms.
The historic courthouse, built in 1858, could no longer accommodate county office functions. The building will be renovated/restored when offices move into the new structure.
In 2006, the Thomas County electorate approved a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax with $16 million revenue earmarked for the new building and the historic courthouse project.
The county commission office, which moved from the courthouse several years ago, will move back into the historic courthouse after renovation/restoration. It has not been decided which other county offices — now located elsewhere — will be housed there.
The historic courthouse has 16,000 square feet of space on three floors. The new building will provide 40,000 square feet on two floors.
The district attorney’s quarters will have eight offices, a general work area and a conference room.
Also on the second floor are offices for two Superior Court judges and a State Court judge.
Near the State Court solicitor’s office on the second floor is a conference room with a large span of glass that forms a sharp angle on the front of the structure. The view is of the tops of large old oak trees and the historic courthouse cupola across the street.
The largest courtroom will hold 130 spectators. The two smaller courtrooms will hold 54 spectators each.
Three jury rooms with large windows and private restrooms will be available, along with a separate room for deliberations by grand jurors.
Robin Willis, a Pelham resident, has worked on the new structure since the project began in 2008.
“I’ve been here since it was dirt,” said Willis, a Wiregrass Electric Co., employee, as he worked in one of the small courtrooms on a recent extremely hot morning.
When asked how it feels to be part of the construction crew for a government building that will be used for generations, Willis said, “It’s something you can tell everybody you were part of it.”
On some days, as many as 50 people have been employed in Judicial Center construction. Each day will find at least 25 workers on the job.
The project is on schedule. Completion is set for late September.
The general contractor is Culpepper Construction Co. of Tallahassee, Fla.
Architects are Lord Aeck Sergeant of Atlanta, with the associate architectural firm of Elliott Marshall Innes in Tallahassee.
Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.
