Donate today to help Birmingham stay informed.
The Jefferson County Commission on Thursday ended its contract with the architectural firm that designed the new juvenile detention center and Family Court. But that action isn’t slowing progress on the project.
County Manager Cal Markert said that in a few months the county would be awarding bids on the first phase of the project, which involves demolition of old warehouses on Second Avenue North by the current location.
“We’re going to have to do several phases because we’ve got to get more room for parking so we can put the new building in existing parking,” Markert said in an interview.
“We’re gonna do a lot of demolition,” Markert continued. “The next phase will be some site work and parking lot work. The next phase is gonna be starting on some security issues with fencing and Family Court, and then, hopefully around April, we’re gonna bid the new youth detention building.”
The G. Ross Bell Juvenile Detention Center opened in 1990.
The commission Thursday authorized the director of General Services to issue a letter of termination to CMH Architects Inc., ending the firm’s professional services agreement for the youth detention facility project.
“Most of the work’s done,” Markert said of the firm’s contribution to the project. “We had asked to do some changes … but we got a real high price for them to do some changes. When we first started designing, we didn’t own those lots out front. We didn’t know we were going to be able to condemn them and buy them. We kind of had a smaller building, taller two-story (in mind). As we were able to purchase those lots, we really want a one-story. We want to kind of change some things. It’s not going to slow us down one iota.
“We’ll probably just pull one of our existing architects,” the county manager said. “But site work and all that’s done.”
Following demolition of the three parcels, security features — including a new guarded entrance and security systems — will be installed. The next phase will be construction of the new detention facility and then demolition of the old one. Parking for judges, flood protection and fencing will follow.
