Staff Writer
The concept of a pedestrian bridge over Pearl Street to connect the new Duval County and old federal courthouses was approved Friday by the Courthouse Architectural Review Committee.
The vote was 5-0, with two members not present.
Voting were Chair Jim Rinaman; Joey Duncan, director of Public Works for the City of Jacksonville; Chief Judge Donald Moran; Don Redman, District No. 4 City Council member; and Ron Salem, chair of the Mayor’s Better Jacksonville Plan Citizens Oversight Committee.
Not present were Council President Jack Webb and Jonathan Garza, chair of the JEDC Downtown Development Review Board.
The old federal courthouse will house the State Attorney’s Office.
“We have unanimously voted for the slick, new design for the bridge,” said Rinaman. “But you will soften it to make it a little more acceptable.”
The committee last met in January. At that meeting to discuss the bridge, which would cost about $700,000, the design incorporated the architecture of both the old and new courthouses using precast panels and precast column covers.
Courthouse Project Manager Dave Schneider explained that the State Historic Preservation Officer didn’t want the bridge to look like it was a part of either building to maintain the history of each building. So a new, more contemporary design was developed using window panels from ceiling to floor as the walls for the bridge.
The path of the bridge also changed to accommodate for the structure of the new courthouse. The new path leaves the new courthouse, goes straight and jogs left in order to enter into the center of the east wing of the old federal courthouse.
“It doesn’t look like either building now,” said Rutledge Liles, former Florida Bar and Jacksonville Bar Association president. “I’d just like to soften it somehow. It just looks like an afterthought now.”
State Attorney Angela Corey also attended the meeting to let the committee know how the bridge would provide the benefit of a direct, secure connection to the courthouse for the attorneys in her office.
Circuit Court Judge Lance Day was also in attendance and supported the functionality of the bridge.
“We are already talking about the courts occupying some of the space in the old federal courthouse before we are even in the new courthouse,” said Day.
“The jury assembly room in the new courthouse was originally designed for a capacity of 300 people. That was redesigned to hold 500 people. The current courthouse has already hit 750 jurors. So the ability to access the old federal courthouse will be needed soon after we move in,” he said.
The next steps include securing approval of the new bridge by the State Historic Preservation Officer and then moving on to design of the new concept.
Courthouse Architectural Review Committee
• Chair, James Rinaman Jr., Marks Gray
• Joey Duncan, Director of Public Works for the City of Jacksonville
• Jonathan Garza, Chair of the Jacksonville Economic Development Committee Downtown Development Review Board
• Chief Judge Donald Moran
• Don Redman, City Council, District 4
• Ron Salem, Chair of the Mayor’s Better Jacksonville Plan Citizens Oversight Committee
• Jack Webb, Council President
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