New building in Hackensack to free up space at Bergen County CourthouseThursday June 14, 2012, 7:59 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Construction will begin this year on a five-story building and parking deck to expand Bergen County's Justice Center in Hackensack, officials announced Thursday as they celebrated the 100th anniversary of the courthouse.
MARKO GEORGIEV/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Bergen County Courthouse marked its centennial.
An 80,000-square-foot building and adjacent five-story parking garage, to be erected on the parking lot of the current courthouse on Court Street, is expected to free up space from the current aged and overcrowded building.
The new building will house the county Prosecutor’s Office, the sheriff’s department and judicial administrative offices, all of which have their current offices in the courthouse.
The move is expected to free up space for additional courtrooms in the standing building, which is already undergoing repairs as part of the courthouse renovation plan.
The whole project is estimated at $80 million, said county Administrator Ed Trawinski — with $7 million coming from the Prosecutor’s Office in the form of forfeiture funds, or assets seized from criminals. The rest will be bonded by the county, Trawinski said.
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, who pledged the $7 million during a ceremony at the courthouse in April, said the amount is the down payment that the county needs to deposit in order to bond for additional funds.
Construction will begin by October, and the entire project is expected to be completed within three years, said county Executive Kathleen Donovan.
The announcement came as a crowd of about 100 from the judicial community joined state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner on the steps of the courthouse to celebrate its 100 years of existence. Attendees included state Superior Court judges, county officials and freeholders, attorneys, courthouse staffers and officials from the Bergen County Bar Association.
All were unanimous in stressing that the historic building, while displaying lots of grace, is badly in need of renovations.
“Citizens should feel pride with their courthouse when they come here,” said Bergen County Assignment Judge Peter Doyne. “Its current state does not allow them to have that justified pride that they should feel.”
Indeed, the Bergen County Courthouse does not look a day under 100. Peeled paint and leaking ceilings are evident throughout the building, and a malfunctioning heating and air-conditioning system is a common cause for complaint among employees.
Staffers are crammed into tight spaces, and some judges have been forced to share courtrooms.
The elevators, notorious for their chronic breakdowns — and at times for free falls — already have cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits.
Doyne said the current courthouse was built in a different era to serve a Bergen County population that was much smaller.
“When this majestic courthouse with its great dome was being constructed, Bergen County had a population of about 138,000,” Doyne said. “It now approaches 900,000 residents.”
Doyne said he made it his top priority in the last six years to have the courthouse renovated, having taken over the project from his predecessor, the late Judge Sybil Moses.
“After all these many years, it appears my hopes and expectations are becoming a reality,” he said.
Donovan said that when the courthouse was built a century ago, a state senator had said that the preceding structure was overcrowded and unworkable.
“Today we are saying the same thing: that the old courthouse is overcrowded and unworkable,” she said.
