New $460-million courthouse coming to downtown Sacramento
June 14, 2018--Mayor Darrell Steinberg joined state officials and members of the judiciary Thursday to celebrate the inclusion of $460 million for a new courthouse in the state budget. The 17-story building will occupy land at the corner of Sixth and G streets in the railyards, behind the existing federal courthouse.
““This is everything we want. We want development of the railyards, we want infill, and we want a courthouse.””
Mayor Steinberg expressed gratitude to Gov. Jerry Brown and to members of the Legislature, who were expected to pass the state budget on June 14. He gave special credit to Judge Lloyd Connelly, the Court Executive Officer of the Sacramento Superior Court, who worked closely with the mayor to lobby for the project's funding.
The existing courthouse, which opened in 1965, was described in a 2010 report by the Judicial Council as unsafe, overcrowded and substandard. A decade of attempts to secure funding to replace it had failed.
“Nine months ago, the dream of a new railyards courthouse was remote and quickly fading,” Mayor Steinberg said. “Judge Lloyd Connelly and the Sacramento judiciary never gave up. Bravo to them for their vision and persistence. Thank you to Gov. Brown and the Legislature for the half billion dollar investment in our railyards. Sacramento deserves a courthouse equal to its commitment to justice.”
Sacramento Superior Court officials said they expect to sign an agreement with a contractor within weeks. Site work could begin before the end of 2018, with construction on the building beginning in fall 2019. The new courthouse is expected to open in early 2023.
“Thanks to Mayor Steinberg for all his diligence; to the Governor for his continued support and for the consistent backing of the Chief Justice,” said the Honorable David De Alba, Presiding Judge of the Sacramento Superior Court. “We finally get to have our new courthouse. It is so well-deserved.”
Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse - built 1965
Denton Kelley, whose family's LDK Ventures is developing the 240-acre railyards project, said the courthouse announcement represents a milestone in the decades-long effort to turn the railyards, once the largest industrial hub west of the Mississippi, into an extension of downtown with thousands of housing units, offices, shops and entertainment.
Kelley noted that approximately $2 billion in investment is now planned for the railyard, including the courthouse, a multi-family residential project and a new Kaiser hospital.
"The railyards is finally going to be a reality," he said. "Get excited, it's happening."
