Imperial County, New El Centro Courthouse

 


Imperial County, New El Centro Courthouse

The New El Centro Courthouse provides a four-courtroom, 46,810 square foot building and 132 surface parking spaces for the public and jurors in the city of El Centro. The project replaced existing court space in the nonstate-owned Brawley and Valley Plaza courthouses, improving court operational efficiency, access to justice, and overall public service through consolidation. It relieved the current space shortfall, increased security, and replaced the existing deficient court space. It also allowed the superior court’s criminal calendars and operations to move from the historic Imperial County Courthouse, furthering reducing the space shortfall within that state-owned facility. The project site is approximately 3.57 acres. The project utilized the Construction Manager at Risk delivery method. This new courthouse will hear criminal case matters providing court service to all residents of Imperial County.

Completion Date: 11/15/23
Occupancy Date: 12/14/23
Gross Square Footage: 46,810
Total Courtrooms: 4
Authorized Project Budget: $73,424,000
Architectural/Engineering Firm: Safdie Rabines Architects
Construction Management Agency: Vanir Construction Management, Inc.
Construction Manager at Risk: Nielsen Construction California
Fund: Senate Bill 1407/General Fund

Prior to completion of this capital project, the Superior Court of Imperial County’s criminal court calendars and operations were split between the state-owned, historic Imperial County Courthouse, built in 1923 in the city of El Centro, and the county-owned Brawley Courthouse, built in 1978 in the city of Brawley. This bifurcation created service and operational inefficiencies, and both facilities had undersized and overcrowded courtrooms as well as security, accessibility, and fire and life safety deficiencies.

With the completion of the New El Centro Courthouse, and to the benefit of all residents of Imperial County, the superior court has improved operational efficiency and access to justice through consolidated criminal court calendars and operations in a modern facility. Also, in the city of El Centro, the superior court will continue to serve the public by hearing civil, probate, family, juvenile, small claims, and traffic cases in the Imperial County Courthouse, and in the city of Winterhaven, it will continue to serve the public by hearing infractions and small claims cases in the Winterhaven Courthouse.

The New El Centro Courthouse project site in the city of El Centro is located on Wake Avenue between Merrill Center Drive and Thomas Drive, midway (approx. two miles) between the Imperial County Courthouse and the Imperial County Juvenile Hall.

 

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Compliance

The Judicial Council complied with CEQA by filing a categorical exemption for this project's preferred site on August 12, 2011.

 

Contact Info

Judicial Council of California
Facilities Services

455 Golden Gate Avenue
8th Floor
San Francisco, California
94102-3688

E-mail
Facilities@jud.ca.gov