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RSA Judicial Building


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State leaders apparently plan to demolish the old state judicial building to create a surface parking lot for nearby state office buildings. The surface lot would eventually be replaced with a parking deck fronting on Dexter Avenue. The building, originally designed in an Egyptian motif, was built in 1926 as a Scottish Rites Temple, remodeled in 1938 to become the neclassical home of the Alabama Supreme Court, and has been vacant since 1993.

Montgomery Advertiser: Try to save court building

Listed as "In Play" in Alabama's Preservation Scoreboard.

I can't believe that anyone would even consider demolishing this building for parking. This is a landmark building on Dexter Avenue, the most important street in the state of Alabama. It sits a block away from the state capitol and across the street from the historic Dexter Avenue-King Memorial Baptist Church. That is not a location for a parking deck. There's already one parking deck on Dexter, and some surface lots; and there is an existing deck on a street a block away. The last thing Montgomery needs is another hideous parking deck.

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Some fools in high places apparently plan to demolish the old state judicial building to create a surface parking lot for nearby state office buildings. The surface lot would eventually be replaced with a parking deck fronting on Dexter Avenue. The building, originally designed in an Egyptian motif, was built in 1926 as a Scottish Rites Temple, remodeled in 1938 to become the neclassical home of the Alabama Supreme Court, and has been vacant since 1993.

Montgomery Advertiser: Try to save court building

Places in Peril

I can't believe that anyone would even consider demolishing this building for parking. This is a landmark building on Dexter Avenue, the most important street in the state of Alabama. It sits a block away from the state capitol and across the street from the historic Dexter Avenue-King Memorial Baptist Church. That is not a location for a parking deck. There's already one parking deck on Dexter, and some surface lots; and there is an existing deck on a street a block away. The last thing Montgomery needs is another hideous parking deck.

Consider the source. Those fools in the legislator seem to always be about one step ahead of Zimbabwe and Palestine when it comes to good governance.

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Consider the source. Those fools in the legislator seem to always be about one step ahead of Zimbabwe and Palestine when it comes to good governance.

Yeah, sometimes I forget that we're being governed by the Alabama Taliban.

What a terrible idea to replace this gem with a parking garage! Thanks for the link too! Great stuff on there. Any ideas about what might happen to the Barton Academy?

You're welcome! The school board in Mobile is trying to figure out what to do with Barton Academy. It will probably be returned to use as a school or turned into a museum. We've got a Barton thread going in the Mobile sub-forum.

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Recent photos of the old judicial building:

OldJudicial1.jpg

Judicial1.jpg

Judicial2.jpg

This beautiful bare concrete parking deck sits about 100 yards (if that) away on Monroe Street

MonroeDeck.jpg

The building on upper Dexter that really needs attention is this one next door, the Alabama State Bar Association building. The state bar should be forced to add another floor or two to this building, or replace the front section entirely.

StateBar.jpg

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According to an article linked in the State House expansion thread, the Attorney General's office is supposed to move from the state house to the expanded old Highway Dept/Public Safety building in late 2008. If there is enough space, the old judicial building would be the most logical place for the office of the state's top prosecutor. Other state offices could move into the old highway dept. building.

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Fully concur. Seems to me that the legislature should actually do something for the state before they get to move to new spaces. Fistfighting is not first on the list tho. May a new consititution and addressing state roads, as well as lack of troopers on those roads before a new fight arena for those boobs.

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The old judicial building has been saved! Dr. David Bronner worked out a deal with the state to exchange 150 RSA parking deck spaces for the building and the old health building behind it. According the the newspaper article, RSA will incorporate the building into a new office complex on the site.

Thanks, Dr. Bronner!

Montgomery Advertiser: State swaps old high court building for parking

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  • 2 months later...

There is an articel on Dr. Bronner in Montgomery Living Magazine. It has a Q&A format. One question about the old judicial building that may interest you. I would copy and past but its in pdf format.

http://www.rsa.state.al.us/Articles/RSA%20...ng%209-2007.pdf

Thanks for the article link, RSAHort. He really doesn't say much in the interview other than that the building will be incorporated into "something bigger" and the old Supreme Court chambers will be preserved. Does anyone know if he plans new construction to connect the judicial building and the health bldg. behind it?

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Health building, with the judicial building visible on the right:

Health_Bldg.jpg

That would seem to be a good chance to build a new mid-rise govt building.

Hope that's the case. In addition to the health building land, there's space between the buildings, so there's definitely room for a nice size building there.

Judicial_Health.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

The new RSA office building project will begin much faster than I expected. Within the next 2 weeks, the old public health building will be demolished, and then selected demolition will begin on the old judicial building. Most of the judicial building will be preserved and incorporated into the new office building. Construction is set to begin in January.

WSFA TV: Retirement Systems Of Alabama To Bring New Changes To Downtown Montgomery

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The new RSA office building project will begin much faster than I expected. Within the next 2 weeks, the old public health building will be demolished, and then selected demolition will begin on the old judicial building. Most of the judicial building will be preserved and incorporated into the new office building. Construction is set to begin in January.

WSFA TV: Retirement Systems Of Alabama To Bring New Changes To Downtown Montgomery

Fence is up around the building now. I saw a track hoe (?) nest to building...looks like demo may start sooner than 2 weeks.

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The site is a block further from the capitol than the RSA Union building, so I guess state and city officials think the height won't detract from the capitol. It's downhill from the capitol as well. I'd like to see what RSA plans to do there, though -- it needs to be done right in that location.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Latest from the Agonizer:

RSA President David Bronner announced plans for the new 500,000 sq ft RSA Judicial Building today. Bronner said that historic preservationists won't like the plans, but he doesn't care. The new building will be built above and behind the existing judicial building, and renovations will create a new street-level entrance. Construction of the $200 million building could take up to two years, and create about 1,000 jobs.

RSA shows plans for building

This article doesn't mention a height. Is it 12 stories? How many square feet is the new Convention Center hotel?

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This article doesn't mention a height. Is it 12 stories?

12 stories, according to today's Advertiser article. The article also mentions a 96 vehicle parking lot, which is likely to front on Monroe St. Unfortunately, this project looks to be another suburban fortress-style building that will do little or nothing to improve the vibrancy and street life of downtown.

RSA plans to upgrade historic site

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