Construction Begins On $144 Million Courthouse

A $144 million new Mendocino County Courthouse in Ukiah is rising alongside railroad tracks crossing Perkins Street, the main corridor that links the commercial core of Ukiah to the Highway 101 freeway.

A formal dedication Wednesday will mark the beginning of work on what is the biggest civic project in the county’s history. At high noon, city, county, and state officials and the public will gather at the historic Ukiah Train Depot to witness what has taken 20 years to become a reality.

State Judicial Council representatives say it will take two years for construction crews to complete a public works project that is expected to pump millions of dollars into the surrounding community, and in effect expand the commercial core of Ukiah with promises of new retail developments and infrastructure improvements along Perkins Street.

Ukiah’s Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley said, “There’s no doubt that we are at a unique point in time where the decisions we make today will dramatically shape the future of our downtown.”

The scale of the new courthouse project is monumental.

• It dwarfs other private and public improvements locally, both past and present. The state funded project has been 20 years in the making, a stop and go process that survived funding crises, multiple delays, and public debates about the location.
• For the first time since 1860, court functions will be conducted away from the heart of downtown Ukiah, shifting to a site three long blocks away.
• The new courthouse will embrace the latest technologies and meet national standards for “green” public buildings. It will replace a 1950s-era county-owned building which is dated in appearance and function. The current courthouse is out of compliance with current safety, seismic and handicapped accessibility codes. It has been deemed by federal officials as a “high-risk” building because of seismic concerns. In 2023 the Judicial Council of California ranked the new Mendocino County Courthouse as an “immediate need.”

There are lingering public concerns about the facade of the new courthouse, which local critics describe as resembling a “barcode.”

State and local court representatives, however, believe that the perspective will change when trees and native landscaping surround the new courthouse.

Superior Court Executive Kim Turner said the new courthouse will provide a fresh, forward look for Ukiah’s downtown.

“It is a building that will help define the future,” said Turner.

The new three-story courthouse covers 81,169 square feet, and provides seven courtrooms, court-related offices, jury assembly room, attorney/client meeting areas, and separate and secure hallways for in-custody defendants. Adjoining property to the east is owned by the state’s Great Redwood Trail Agency, but previous plans for private development have been abandoned and are no longer a priority, according to representatives.

An unresolved issue surrounding the new courthouse is the lack of space for the county District Attorney or Public Defender, two county offices whose daily functions are intertwined with the court system. The DA’s Office is currently located on the bottom floor of the existing courthouse, which once housed all county administrative functions. The Public Defender Office is currently located on School Street a block south of the existing courthouse.

The two county offices eventually may be relocated closer to the new courthouse if private developers step up to provide space, or an existing county-owned building at Perkins and State Street is remodeled to provide the District Attorney Office with a new home. Even so, how to create seamless interaction including transit between the courts and the necessary county office functions remains unclear.

What happens to the current courthouse when the courts relocate in 2027 is also an issue.

The County of Mendocino owns the current courthouse building and site, but with an estimated $9 million in costs to bring the near 75-year-old structure into compliance with current seismic safety and accessibility standards raises questions for local taxpayers.

One possibility is that the county might deed the site to the City of Ukiah, which favors demolition and relocating the Alex R. Thomas Plaza to the block bounded by State, Perkins, School, and Standley streets.

Deputy City Manager Riley said, “There are a lot of pieces to put together, but it is a serious possibility.”

“For all the reasons that the (current) courthouse was deemed needing replacement and cost prohibitive to repair, it is unlikely that the county will continue it as a workplace,” said Riley.

Riley said she envisions a new Thomas Plaza occupying the historic heart of downtown where the courthouse now stands, with the current city-owned plaza site being developed for commercial purposes, adding an anchor at the southern end of the downtown core.

However, the city’s representative on the county Board of Supervisors said Friday no “formal talks” have occurred between the county CEO, the City Manager’s Office, and court executives.

Supervisor Maureen Mulheren acknowledged there are “many great ideas that have been brought up about the old Courthouse and opportunities at the new site.”

“At this point it’s too soon to start public meetings and discussions” about the fate of the old courthouse, said Mulheren.

Relocating the Thomas Plaza is one of two projects besides the courthouse that could reshape Ukiah’s core downtown.

The other focuses on efforts to stabilize and clean up the landmark Palace Hotel, which recently garnered attention from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Palace offers possibilities of a boutique hotel, bar and restaurant, and specialty shops a block north of the old courthouse. Page & Turnbull, a noted San Francisco architectural firm specializing in historic preservation, prepared preliminary plans for such a project at the Palace in 2023 before the then owner Jitu Ishwar scuttled a deal with local investor Minal Shankar.

Riley agrees it is too early to make pronouncements about the Plaza and Palace ideas, but “the possibilities are there. The next few years are going to be exciting times.”

Commercial realtor Todd Schapmire agrees downtown and the Perkins Street corridor seem poised for a new level of activity after years of languishing.

Schapmire and family members were engaged in the sale of a prime corner lot at Perkins and Main streets that is targeted for new student housing for Mendocino College. Old metal buildings dating back to Ukiah’s farm town history are to be torn down to make way for a project expected to infuse the downtown with dozens of youthful occupants of the college housing.

Schapmire also participated in the sale of the former Curry Furniture building on Perkins to the Pinoleville Rancheria, and the purchase of the former Savings Bank branch further east on Perkins to Redwood Credit Union. Renovation of that building into new offices for the credit union is already underway.

“I feel things are better than they were a few years ago when Perkins was a pretty drab entry into downtown Ukiah,” said Schapmire. Homeless issues remain, he said, “but even they seem a bit better.”

The city is investing millions of dollars in public grant money into infrastructure improvements in the downtown area, including a completed streetscape project narrowing State Street down to two lanes through the downtown core, replacement of water and sewer lines, and repaving deteriorating streets. The City Council recently voted to approve increasing a contract with Ghilotti Construction Inc. to $15 million for the “Urban Core Project” for major utility replacement, road rehabilitation, and pedestrian enhancements along the major corridors of Perkins, Gobbi and Main streets.

Even so, the scale of the new courthouse project and its cost dwarfs everything else.

The courthouse is a massive public undertaking utilizing a design/build program that gives the state complete control over what the community will live with for decades to come.

Whatever residents feel about the design or location, the new Mendocino County Courthouse promises to reshape the face of Ukiah from the downtown to the freeway a half mile away.

Deputy City Manager Riley said while the new courthouse is a state project, city and county representatives have been “at the table for nearly two decades.”

“We recognize the importance of this civic anchor in the downtown, and we have expanded significant resources to help ensure that not only it remains downtown but that it is appropriately coordinated with our existing streets and infrastructure,” said Riley.

Perkins Street’s appearance will be improved and drainage issues that have long plagued the thoroughfare will be corrected.

Riley said new commercial development along the Perkins Street corridor will begin to transform what has been a drab entryway into the downtown.

“We are going to see major changes in the next 3-5 years,” predicted Riley.

Riley ticked off changes already underway, or will begin soon:

Mendocino College has purchased the property at the corner of Perkins and Main Street across from the Mendocino County Library for student housing.

The 11,000 square foot former furniture building known as Curry’s is under new ownership, and a project is planned.

Redwood Credit Union is renovating the former Savings Bank branch site on Perkins on the edge of Pear Tree Shopping Center.

Starbucks is building a new drive-through in the Pear Tree parking lot facing Perkins Street.

Hobby Lobby, a nationwide craft store, is taking over the former JC Penney’s store a block off the intersection of Perkins and Orchard streets.

Habit Burger & Grill, started in the 1960s in Santa Barbara, will revamp the decrepit former Denny’s at the southeast corner of Perkins and Orchard. Habit Burger is a nationally acclaimed operation, and its “charbroil burger” 10 years ago was labeled the best in the U.S. by Consumer Reports.

Ukiah’s loss of its redevelopment funding has hampered city development efforts since 2012, when state lawmakers in 2012 ended local redevelopment agencies, and their ability to hold back tax revenue from the state.

Riley said the city’s former Redevelopment Agency had allowed Ukiah to invest in affordable housing, eliminate blight, revitalize commercial areas, and build projects of economic and community importance. She cited as examples the Ukiah Valley Conference Center, the Alex Thomas Plaza, and matching grants for façade improvements.

With the end of redevelopment agencies, Riley said the city’s “lane is more or less reduced to infrastructure.”

Still, that is positive, said Riley, in creating an environment that appeals to developers and investors.

“We are setting the table,” said Riley.