Revised Courthouse Plan Anticipated to Save Money

May 17, 2018 – Chambersburg, PA – The Franklin County Commissioners received a recommendation from staff and consultants today to consider a revised plan for improvements to administrative offices and an archives building. The plan for improvements is part of the Courthouse Facility Improvement Project that was approved by the Commissioners in January.

The original plan for improvements to administrative offices and archives storage was to construct a new 14,000 square foot archives building on the site of the former Sheetz convenience store. This site is adjacent to the Administrative Annex on N. Second Street in Chambersburg and has been county-owned since 2009.  The original plan also included upgrading the Administrative Annex by remodeling the existing 35,000 square foot building and adding 10,000 more square feet for additional offices for the Commissioners, Treasurer, Voter Registration, and Tax Assessment & Tax Claim.

The revised plan presented today recommends the following: 

Instead of constructing a new archives building on the site of the former Sheetz, the county would renovate approximately 16,000 square feet of the Grant Street property located on the corner of Grant and N. Second Street (the property served as the temporary home of the Coyle Free Library during the library's recent renovation and expansion). Earlier this month the county finalized a 10-year lease for this property with an option to buy when the lease ends. It comes with 80 parking stalls.

Prior to being remodeled for archives purposes, the Commissioners Office and related functions would take up temporary residence at the Grant Street property. The existing Commissioners Complex at 14 N. Main St. is to be demolished to make room for the new courthouse. 

Also, instead of renovating and expanding the Administrative Annex, the county would construct a new administrative office building on the former Sheetz site to replace the existing Administrative Annex. 

Project Manager John Hart explained how the availability of the property on Grant Street led to new facility plan options. A presentation to the Commissioners included discussion with Stuart Christenson from Noelker and Hull Architects and John Boozer from Franklin Advisory, LLC. Both recommended that renovations to the property on Grant Street are cost-effective, given that the building structure is well suited for future use as an archives building. 

Christenson and Boozer also recommended new construction of administrative offices because of the Administrative Annex’s structural problems, inefficient floor plan, and lower cost of new construction as well as long-term savings from updated electrical, climate-control and information system infrastructure.

The original plan for construction of archives and renovation/expansion of administrative offices was estimated to cost $15 million. The revised plan is expected to be less at $14 million. The revised plan is also expected to greatly reduce the expense of transitional office space and disruption of court and county operations during construction of the new courthouse and renovations to the Old Courthouse and Courthouse Annex.

The overall budget for the Court Facility Improvement Project remains at $67.7 million. The cost of the recommended improvements for administrative offices and archives is included in the overall project budget figure.

The commissioners will discuss the recommendations during their public meeting on Thursday, May 24, at 9:30 a.m.

The plans for the new courthouse remain unchanged and the project is on track for construction to begin in early 2019. The needed demolition is expected to begin late in 2018.

The Administration Building and Archives facilities project is part of the Court Facilities Improvement Project which is addressing long standing concerns with courthouse security, inadequate space for operations, and inefficiencies related to fragmented operations. A project webpage is located on the County’s website. For more information on the Court Facility Improvement Project, please visit www.franklincountypa.gov or email facilityprojectinfo@franklincountypa.gov.

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