Work Begins on Appellate Courthouse : Redevelopment: Downtown project will give justices a permanent home, bring more property tax revenue to Ventura.

Workers have begun building a new courthouse for the 2nd District Court of Appeal, a focal point of Ventura’s plans to revitalize the city’s old commercial center.

The two-story, 30,000-square-foot building at the southeast corner of Figueroa and Santa Clara streets is the largest project in the city’s redevelopment area in at least five years. City officials expect the $5.5-million project to generate $40,000 a year in property taxes for the city and improve land values downtown.

“You’re talking about 50 people who will be introduced to the downtown economy, spending money there, where they weren’t before, plus out-of-town visitors who will be coming to the courthouse for business and stopping by the restaurants and stores in downtown,” said Pat Richardson, the city’s redevelopment planner.

The courthouse is being built by a private developer on land once occupied by three bungalows, a small office building and a city-owned parking lot. Its Victorian and neoclassical architectural design is also expected to beautify the neighborhood, Richardson said.

The courthouse is scheduled to be finished in late July, and the staff will move into the leased facility in August. The courthouse will occupy about 22,000 square feet; the remaining 8,000 square feet will be leased as office space.

“We’re thrilled,” Presiding Justice Steven J. Stone said. “This homeless court is finally getting a home.”

Division 6 of the Court of Appeal has been housed for 10 years in cramped quarters on Victoria Avenue in Ventura. Lacking a courtroom of their own, the three appellate justices have had to borrow a courtroom at the nearby Hall of Justice or at courthouses in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

The court currently is in session only a few days a month, but Stone expects that to increase when the new courthouse is open.

Stone said having a permanent courthouse will mean that attorneys will no longer be confused about where to appear for oral arguments.

“It’s going to make life an awful lot easier on us,” Stone said.

Crews began work in mid-November and have razed the old structures. They are currently building a foundation, and walls are scheduled to be erected in late January or early February, said Jim Greene, superintendent at the site.

No major glitches have occurred so far, Greene said, although rain delayed construction by three days.

Lawrence Moore, a partner in the development company, said construction was supposed to begin last spring, but was postponed because it took longer than expected to negotiate lease agreements with state officials.

Moore said rain delays have been factored into the construction schedule, and he does not expect any problems meeting the July 31 deadline.

City officials were eager to get the courthouse in the downtown area. Ventura’s downtown once housed the main courthouse of Ventura County, and many attorneys had offices downtown. When the Hall of Justice was built on Victoria Avenue, many lawyers and other businesses also left the area for the city’s east end.

City officials are hoping that the appellate courthouse will draw some attorneys back to the area, and they expect a boost to the downtown economy from the courthouse workers and out-of-town attorneys and clients.

The city will also gain more property tax revenue from the project, Richardson said. The city had received about $4,000 in property taxes from the land, but now stands to receive about $40,000, he said.

In addition to providing a low-interest, $1.5-million construction loan from redevelopment funds, city officials helped relocate 11 residential tenants and two businesses that had occupied the courthouse site. The Ventura County Farmers’ Market, which was held Saturdays on the city-owned parking lot, was moved to another city-owned parking lot downtown.

The city purchased one parcel of land for $180,000 and used its power of eminent domain to acquire two other parcels. After city officials had taken possession of the land, they sold it to Orange County developer Hall, Moore & Co. for $860,000, Richardson said.

“We didn’t discount the land,” Richardson said. “That was market value.”

Donald and Beverly Thinnes, who own one of the condemned parcels on Figueroa, have sued the city, contending that its $330,000 offer is not fair market value.

Thinnes is an appraiser for the Ventura County assessor’s office, said Carolyn Feuerborn, the couple’s attorney. He thinks that at a minimum, his land is worth $450,000, she said.

The case is scheduled to go to trial at the end of January.

Although the city will not own the Thinnes land until the case is resolved, it obtained the right of possession and was allowed to build on it, Feuerborn said.