$11 million for two buildings

Flathead County is wrapping up an $11 million facilities expansion as construction nears completion on the historic old jail building and the new South Campus Building.

The building just south of the main Courthouse that housed prisoners for decades will now be home to the county’s legal staff.

County Attorney Ed Corrigan, 11 deputy county attorneys and support staffers will begin moving into the refurbished and expanded space — a total of 10,760 square feet — in early to mid-June, county Administrator Mike Pence said.

“The office space is done, the restrooms are finished,” Pence said recently about the $4 million project. “We’re still working on the touch-ups, but the interior is close to 100 percent complete.”

Those who remember how the building’s interior was configured for the old jail won’t know the place, Pence added.

The decor reflects the historic feel of the Courthouse, with oak trim and several brick walls preserved in the old portion of the building.

The County Attorney support staff will occupy the entire main floor, with 13 offices upstairs for the attorneys.

“Every office has at least one window,” Pence said.

Four additional offices and storage space are in the basement.

Plans for restoring the old jail — constructed in 1903 as a companion building to the Courthouse — began about four years as the county started looking at options to provide more space for the County Attorney offices.

The defunct jail hadn’t housed prisoners for years and was used largely for storage. When the attic and much of the basement couldn’t be converted to office use because of structural constraints, the county decided to add a twin addition on the east side.

Martel Construction of Bigfork is the general contractor. To pay for the old jail project, the county is using federal money from a long-running payment-in-lieu-of-taxes appropriation that compensates local governments for nontaxable federal land.

The project is on budget, Pence said, but a $267,000 change order was approved to install a heated sidewalk system and handicap-accessible crossings on both sides of the U.S. 93 couplet. The county is using additional payment-in-lieu money that hadn’t been budgeted yet for the sidewalks and crossings, Pence said.

The $7 million South Campus Building on First Avenue West also is almost finished, with a move-in date tentatively scheduled in late July.

“The exterior is very close to being completed and the interior is really coming along, probably in the 90-percent complete range,” Pence said.

While the new facility is the long-awaited space for the Flathead County Agency on Aging and Kalispell Senior Center, several other county departments also will relocate to the new 30,500-square-foot, two-story building.

The Environmental Health Department, along with the Election and Planning and Building departments, all will be located on the second floor of the South Campus Building.

A multipurpose room with a wood dance floor is included to accommodate Kalispell Senior Center classes, but other groups will be able to use the space if they reserve it, Pence said.

The facility is constructed to accommodate a third floor as needed, along with structural footings for a sky bridge to one day connect the building to the Earl Bennett Building to the north, if the commissioners were to choose that option.

Swank Enterprises is the general contractor for the project.

The South Campus Building also will be paid for with the county’s payment-in-lieu-of-taxes appropriations from the federal government.

About $250,000 was trimmed from the overall project cost during a value engineering process.

The project has stayed within the budget, Pence said, with the exception of a $125,000 additional cost for heated sidewalks that are expected to be installed around the South Campus Building. Unallocated payment-in-lieu funds would be tapped.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.