BRUNSWICK COUNTY — After years of planning, Brunswick County is preparing to award a $10.98 million construction contract to Montieth Construction Corporation to expand and renovate the existing courthouse in Bolivia.
A two-year construction project, plans include first constructing a new three-story 15,000 square foot building on the north end of the existing courthouse. During the second phase in 2021, crews will renovate the current 102,450 square foot courthouse.
Related: Brunswick County planning $11 million courthouse expansion
New and renovated space is required to meet crowded, peak courthouse conditions, according to a 2017 space needs assessment study. The study found the courthouse was about 6,100 square feet shy of meeting all essential courthouse functions and programs.
The project
Montieth Construction Corporation turned in the lowest out of four submitted bids.
All four bid alternates under consideration will also be incorporated with the project, including exterior upgrades on the south-facing wall, a new exit turnstile to meet security needs, and a new HVAC control system.
In February 2018, the county hired the architectural firm Sawyer Sherwood & Associate for $975,800 to provide design and construction oversight services throughout the planned four-and-a-half-year project.
Bid as a separate project, work on a new courthouse parking lot was recently completed last year. Though the parking lot was designed and permitted in 2010, work stalled on the project for nearly a decade before the county reopened it in 2018. The county awarded Ellixson & Sons $747,000 in May 2019, and in September, approved an additional $138,687 change order due to unsuitable soils on the site.
In total, the new parking lot cost more than $1.3 million to construct.
Including the new parking lot, design and construction costs for the new and renovated buildings, recent courthouse upgrades total at least $12.8 million.
View a floorplan of the original plans on pg. 5:
Courthouse Expansion Plans by Johanna Ferebee Still on Scribd
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