WEST JORDAN — The state court system for the south end of Salt Lake Valley will be moving into its new home later this month — the state's second-largest courthouse, with room to grow.
The new West Jordan Courthouse, at 8080 S. Redwood Road, will open June 20, taking over for the soon-to-close Sandy Courthouse and consolidating the cases formally covered by Sandy and West Valley City's courthouses.
The 123,100-square-foot courthouse will have four 3rd District courtrooms, a courtroom for the district court commissioner and five juvenile courtrooms. It will also house office space for support staff, juvenile probation, the Office of the Guardian ad Litem and the district attorney's office, "which makes it kind of unique," Administrative Office of the Courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said.
There is also room at the site for future expansion, Volmer said.
The new courthouse is intended to keep up with the growing caseloads of 3rd District Court judges, she said. West Jordan was selected because of the rapid growth in the southwestern part of the county.
The court district covers Salt Lake, Tooele and Summit counties. Sandy's courthouse closed Friday, and West Valley City's will phase out its cases over the summer. It will reopen in the fall as the central location for juvenile probation offices, leaving West Jordan and downtown Salt Lake City's Matheson Courthouse as the county's only district courthouses.
The new courthouse, designed by GSBS Architects, will cost the state $21.3 million for construction, project fees, site development and land purchase. That cost was offset by the sale of the Sandy courthouse for $3.5 million and an 18-month agreement with Sandy that allows the court to stay in the courthouse rent-free until it closes, paying only utilities and general maintenance costs.
The new courthouse will be a full-service district courthouse, handling all types of cases, including some that Sandy and West Valley could not handle. A map showing which cases will be heard in West Jordan can be found at www.utcourts.gov/courts/dist/wjordan/courtboundaries.pdf.
Other facts about the new courthouse:
It is the state's only courthouse to use geothermal heating, estimated to be 20 percent cheaper than traditional single source forced air natural gas heating.
It is three stories high, with a design that a GSBS Architects news release said seeks "balance between 'judicial respect' and 'the people's courthouse.' " Its exterior is brick and stone with a copper roof, and its courtrooms feature cherry wood with stainless steel accents.
The courthouse has a secured holding facility for prisoners being transported between the courthouse and jail or prison.
All courtrooms are equipped with digital audio recording devices for record-keeping, and the juvenile courtrooms are wired to provide video conferencing with the Salt Lake County Juvenile Detention Center.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com