Design and Construction
The front of the Children and Family Justice Center
Facing east over the street entrance to the new center
The courthouse is set back along 12th Avenue to allow for street activation
Facing west on the Alder Connection's bike and pedestrian path with entrance to youth program space on the right
Bird's eye view of the Children and Family Justice Center site
Spacious and light-filled interiors provide more calming spaces
Spacious and light-filled interiors provide more calming spaces
The voter-approved Children and Family Justice Center will replace an outdated Youth Services Center with a trauma-informed facility that provides modern youth and family court services as well as a flexible and therapeutic juvenile detention center. King County has contracted with Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company, to design and build a facility that will include a courthouse for juvenile court and dependency court, juvenile detention, a parking structure and public open areas.
Project areas by the numbers
- Courthouse: 137,000 square feet with 10 courtrooms, an increase of 3 courtrooms and 40,000 square feet.
- Juvenile Detention: 92,000 square feet with 112 detention beds. Design allows for flexibility to reduce detention space in the future. This facility will have 100 fewer detention beds than the current one has (212), almost cutting the number of beds in half.
- Youth Program Space: 10,200 square feet initially part of detention has been converted to non-detention youth program space because of reductions in the juvenile detention population.
- Parking Garage: The 360-stall structure's top floor will be at ground level on its north side and two floors above ground on its south side.
- Public Open Areas: 1.55 acres of the site will be open areas that include the Alder Connection, a pedestrian and bicycle pathway that will reconnect East Alder Street between 12th and 14th Avenues after a 50-year closure, space on the corner of East Remington Court and 14th Avenue, and public plaza space facing 12th Avenue.
Construction Updates:
Timeline
Construction at 12th Avenue and Alder Street in Seattle's Central District will begin in Summer 2017. The new center will open in late 2019, and the parking garage is scheduled to open in 2021. Bookmark this page for future construction updates or visit our Contact Us page to sign up for project updates.
Economic Opportunity and Empowerment Program
King County has formed an advisory board of small business and community leaders to guide the development of King County's Economic Opportunity and Empowerment Program. The program requires and encourages the contractor to hire more workers from economically disadvantaged communities now and in the future. This hiring and contracting model is expected to be developed and implemented in the County's future capital projects. Hiring and apprenticeship goals for the Children and Family Justice project include:
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15% of total craft labor hours are to be performed by building apprentices
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17% use of Small Contractors and Suppliers
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6% use of women-owned businesses
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10% minority-owned businesses
Read more about this program
Environmental Sustainability
The project's contract sets high standards for environmental sustainability. Eco-friendly designs and landscaping are aimed at earning a LEED Gold certification for the building. Building and landscaping features include:
- Green roof: Will reduce energy use, improve stormwater management, provide potential community gardening opportunities
- Bioretention gardens: Improves stormwater management
- Pervious pavement: Allows water to soak through, reducing runoff
- Eco-friendly heating and cooling system: Reduces pollution to an amount equivalent to taking 400 cars off the road
- Energy-efficient features: such as LED lights: Will use 26% less energy than required by the City of Seattle's Energy Code
