West Building
This project entailed the construction of a new Broward County courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale, known as the West Building. The 20-story, 714,000-square-foot courthouse officially opened in March 2017, and was constructed just west of the building it replaced, on the site of the former judicial parking garage. The garage was demolished in Summer 2012 to make way for the new building.
The total cost of the courthouse tower, including design, project management services, underground utility work, demolition and abatement of existing buildings, construction of the new tower, the connecting bridge to the existing north and east wings, and the new East Wing elevator was approximately $261.5 million.
Fun Facts About the West Building:
- 105,000 square feet of glass walls
- 41,000 cubic yards of concrete
- 5,300 tons of reinforced steel
- 1,800 architectural precast concrete panels (230,000 square feet
456 Auger Cast concrete piles totaling 41,260 feet (almost 8 miles)
- 11,500 light fixtures
- 2,000 doors
- 350 toilets
- 14 new elevators
- 6 new escalators
Generator systems for emergency operations
- 77 courtrooms with additional space for expansion
Improved security screening areas
Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certified
South Parking Garage (Employee Parking Only)
The South Parking Garage opened in June 2014, at the northeast corner of South Andrews Avenue and S.E. 7th Street. The nearly two-acre site extends north to the south side of S.E. 6th Street, across S.E. 6th Street from the site of the new Courthouse West Building, and east to the northwest corner of S.E. 1st Avenue.
The five-story garage provides 1,000 full size parking spaces and includes 12,000 square feet of ground floor office space for Guardian ad Litem, and 1,500 square feet of ground floor retail space.
The cost of the project was approximately $30.7 million including costs for both the land purchase and the construction of the new facilities.
