First, excavators chewed a big hole in the ground. Then, floor by floor, construction workers poured the elevator tower. Steelworkers took over, striding beams seven stories high to assemble the skeleton of the new Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse. And, as if icing cakes, workers added concrete floors and attached a glass-and-steel skin. The building looks almost finished but isn't scheduled to open until early 2011.

Work on the $105 million civic project is about to move indoors, where walls, ceilings, woodwork and the rest of the building's guts are being installed, said James A. Goodenow, the county's director of Public Facilities Management. The bills are mostly in. Bids were lower than expected, largely becausecontractors were hungry for jobs during the recession. At this point, the county expects to finish the project on budget, with about $918,000 in unspent contingency funds. 

"It's hard to imagine what other big-ticket item might come up," Goodenow said.

The construction, started in November 2008, cost $91.2 million. The rest of the money was paid to architects, construction managers and the project manager. About 9 percent of the contracts were awarded to businesses whose majority owner is female, a racial minority or disabled. The county set no goals or quotas on contracting, but it tracked participation.The construction of the county's new baseball stadium, Huntington Park, was plagued by lawsuits from nonunion contractors whose low bids were rejected, but the courthouse project has yielded no litigation. Nearly 30 percent, or $26.9 million, of all construction dollars went to companies that hire nonunion workers. Lithko Contracting Inc., which sued commissioners to win its low-bid job on Huntington Park, won a $1.3 million courthouse job through another low bid.

Bidding has been such a bargain, Commissioner Paula Brooks said, that the county plans to speed up remodeling the Hall of Justice at 369 S. High St. Once the Common Pleas Court moves to the new building, the old hall will be gutted and remodeled for county offices or, perhaps, as a new home for the Domestic Relations Court.Brooks, who took her fourth hard-hat tour of the new courthouse Thursday, admired the light that sifted into courtrooms from transoms. The exterior walls of glass give the building its modern look. Inside, the courthouse conveys a sleek, airy feel.

"It's not going to be ostentatious," she said of the decor, "but it will be a decent place for people to work."

Brooks initially wasn't fond of the modern design, but the potential to save 25 percent on energy costs won her over.The building, she said, will be the only county courthouse in the country expected to receive a gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (or LEED) rating system.Columbus lawyer Jack D'Aurora would prefer a traditional building that conveys the seriousness of justice, not something that, he says, looks like a sporting-goods store.

D'Aurora is more positive about the prospect of comfortable, high-tech courtrooms inside: "I'm willing to bet lunch it's going to be nice. I'll just close my eyes when I walk in the door."

Judge Richard A. Frye, who spent hours conveying concerns of fellow judges to architects, views the design as functional. "It will allow a lot of light into jury rooms and public spaces," he said. "We won't feel like we're in a cave anymore."

bcarmen@dispatch.com

Miles-McClellan Pre-Construction