BENTONVILLE -- Demolition work for the courthouse expansion started Monday.
DT Specialized Services of Tulsa, Okla. will do the work for $72,772, County Judge Barry Moehring said. The one-story section behind the courthouse will be demolished. A two-story addition is planned on the site.
A new courtroom is needed for Christine Horwart, who was elected in March and will be the county's seventh circuit court judge. She takes office Jan. 1. The Arkansas Legislature added the judgeship to assist with the increasing caseload.
Horwart's courtroom and office area will be on the second floor of the addition. A lobby will be on the first floor. The expansion will add 5,500 square feet to the downtown courthouse, which is 28,080 square feet.
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Demolition will be finished by the end of the year and construction will begin in January, Moehring said.
The county will finance $3.1 million for the expansion. It secured the loan from Regions Bank for five years at 1.59% with no prepayment penalty, said Brenda Guenther, county comptroller. The Quorum Court approved the plan in July.
"This is a long time coming to expand our court facilities in downtown Bentonville," Moehring said." I'm glad we are able to do this. We are able to do it without raising taxes and with a modest amount of borrowing."
Moehring described it as a modest expansion. "It will take care of our courtroom needs for a good five or 10 years," he said.
Bryan Beeson, county facilities administrator, said the 5,000-square-foot building once housed the juvenile detention center and later was sectioned off and used by other county offices including the coroner. "It was time for it to go," he said.
The plan for the expansion was unanimously approved by Bentonville's Planning Commission in October.
The development when finished will include 72 parking spaces and will provide a 12-foot sidewalk along East Central Avenue and an 8-foot sidewalk along Northeast Second Street, according to city planning documents.
Until the work is completed, Horwart's courtroom and chamber will be in a small area in the courthouse last used as a courtroom in 2012. The 888-square-foot courtroom has been remodeled. The county budgeted $23,796 for the remodel.
Included in the court expansion is $231,783 to repair the annex where Circuit Judge Brad Karren holds court, according to documents. The annex is across the street from the main courthouse.
The courthouse expansion should wrap up by the end of 2021, Moehring said.
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Demo work for Benton County courthouse expansion starts - Arkansas Online
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