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fresno county courthouse

The Fresno County Courthouse. Google Street View photo

published on March 17, 2023 - 1:11 PM
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Fresno County Superior Court on Friday formally announced it has been selected to receive a new courthouse.

The Judicial Council of California approved the replacement of the nearly 60-year-old main Downtown Fresno courthouse. The state budget includes $749 million for the facility.

The facility will also replace the North Annex Jail and M Street Courthouse, which is leased.

A project advisory group is currently in the site-selection phase. All sites under consideration are within a half-mile radius of the existing courthouse. The site footprint would be 2.09 acres.

The project will be an estimated 413,000 square feet with 36 courtrooms, “paving the way for growth and new judgeships,” according to a superior court news release.

As the oldest and largest facility, the Fresno County Courthouse  is out of compliance with safety, seismic and accessibility codes and doesn’t meet space standards, according to the Judicial Council.

“Among its significant functional issues are its undersized lobby and space for entrance screening, too few elevators to accommodate the high volume of daily court users, undersized/lack of space for jurors to assemble as well as deliberate, lack of holding facilities, no secure attorney-client interview rooms, and no path of circulation for in-custodies separate from the public and judicial officers and staff,” according to a Judicial Council background report on the project. “The M Street Courthouse has similar deficiencies to the Fresno County Courthouse including space shortfall, overcrowding, no separate paths of circulation, and limited holding facilities. The court’s space in the North Annex Jail is undersized for public waiting and staff operations.”

The design-build phase of the project is estimated to begin in December 2024 and be complete by January 2031.


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