The new Frank J. Guarini Justice Complex on Newark Avenue in Jersey City will open its doors to the public by early next year.So predicted David Drumeler, deputy Hudson County administrator, at a recent press tour of the building which was deemed “98% completed.”It’s expected to take a few months to unload furniture, computer-related units, camera monitors and the like and test them out before opening the building for regular business.Elevators and corridor drinking fountains are working but individual offices for judges’ chambers and staff and other county offices have yet to be fully outfitted.Also, a two-way entrance/exit garage gate mechanism still has to be put into place and the county is preparing to solicit bids for a private caterer to run a 75-seat first-floor cafeteria.  Construction of the new 600,000 square foot structure – encompassing 24 courtrooms, a 459-space parking garage and various county offices currently housed in the county Administration Building across the street – was finished in 42 months.Eight civil courts currently operating at the Brennan Courthouse on Newark Avenue will remain there.  Courts and county offices now functioning at the county Administration Building will move to the Guarini building.Main entrance to the new building will be via Central Avenue where visitors and most building employees will proceed through a sheriff’s department-staffed security checkpoint before proceeding to a particular court or office.For security reasons, judges and members of their staff will enter the building through a separate entry point on Oakland Avenue and follow a path to their destinations via elevator or ramp.County inmates scheduled for appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court or criminal court will be bused into a “sally port” and then taken by elevator to a basement holding area until their cases are called. They’ll then be moved to an individual holding cell where they can confer with an attorney before their case is heard.Jurors waiting to be called for cases will be directed to the first-floor jury assembly room which is designed to hold up to 400 staff and jury members, according to Drumeler. Those jurors can retreat to an adjoining room to watch TV. Jurors can store clothing and personal belongings in small lockers secured by combination locks.Only petit jurors serving at trials of up to three days and all grand jurors will be allowed to park in the garage; however, the general public will be excluded.The first floor will also accommodate landlord-tenant court and mediation rooms positioned at one end of the corridor and the CJP (Central Judicial Processing) court – where prisoners enter a plea – and lawyer/client interview rooms at the other end.Separate space on the first floor is reserved for the county sheriff’s executive office and staff and the county surrogate and staff.Criminal courtrooms and judge’s chambers, equipped with staff rooms and dinettes, were designed with the help of guidelines drawn by the National Institute of Courts, Drumeler said.However, judges who currently enjoy private, spacious chambers at the Administration Building and at Brennan Courthouse will now be limited to cramped shared spaces in the new building.On that basis, he said, courtrooms have been equipped with acoustic ceilings designed to either amplify a judge’s instructions to lawyers or jurors or tamper down private conversations between a lawyer and client, for example.There will also be Bluetooth technology devices available for the hearing impaired, specially engineered furniture that will allow for seating a wheelchair-bound judge at his/her bench and large elevated monitors on which attorneys can project information related to their cases for the benefit of jurors. Judge’s chambers have been outfitted with 2 ½-inch-thick “Level 6 ballistic” windows.One design feature that reportedly irked members of the judiciary, however, is that in place of the private, spacious chambers at the Administration Building and at Brennan Courthouse, judges and staff will now be limited to cramped shared spaces in the new building.The third floor is earmarked for Family Court and soundproof, secured mediation rooms for disputants.  A glass-enclosed lounge will be available to family members.Offices earmarked for the county administrator and staff are on the fourth floor and the county prosecutor and staff will occupy space on the fifth floor.A section of greenery taking up a third of an acre – said to be the largest on any public building in the state – occupies the building’s sub-roof.Sitting atop the roof are air-conditioning units and generators that power the building’s elevators, life-safety units, audio-visual equipment, security locks and lighting.Government officials monitoring the project lauded the builder and construction manager for keeping the project on track.“The C.O. (certificate of occupancy) was issued (by the city) four months earlier than what the (construction) contract called for,” said Norman Guerra, CEO of the Hudson County Improvement Authority, which secured $385 million in 30-year bonds to help finance the project.Overall construction cost came in at $310 million plus 6.5% extra for change-orders, according to Ted Domuracki, president of MAST Construction Services, construction manager on the job.Terminal Construction, of Woodbridge, was general contractor.On peak days, as many as 500 union employees worked at the sprawling site and $130 million was spent for the use of minority workers, representing about 32% of the project’s overall payroll, according to Guerra. “Terminal has set the bar here,” he added. Domuracki noted that “Babe” Dinallo, the late father of current Terminal president Donald Dinallo, “built the first five floors” of the Administration Building (other floors were added later to accommodate courts) “so this (project) is personal (to Terminal).”Guarini, the former Congress member who represented Hudson County from 1979 to 1993, recently marked his centennial birthday. He and family members were given a private tour of the building that will bear his name. In a prepared statement, the longtime attorney said: “I am very proud, humbled and grateful to have this beautiful courthouse named after me. This is truly one of the highest honors of my lifetime and I am thankful to everyone who made this possible.”The post Contractor Delivers New County Courthouse On Time, Official Opening Set For Early 2025 appeared first on Jersey City Times.