Clark and Edgemoor Celebrate Groundbreaking for New Howard County Circuit Courthouse

Columbia, Maryland - On June 24, Clark Construction Group joined representatives from Howard County, Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate, Star America, HOK, Johnson Controls, and Harkins Builders to break ground on the new Howard County Circuit Courthouse project in Columbia, Maryland.

The 238,000-square-foot courthouse will replace the County’s current 175-year-old building. The new facility is designed to include several safety improvements, including separate hallways and elevators for prisoner transport and a large entryway to provide for more efficient safety screening. The new building will also feature a four-story atrium, cafeteria, fitness center, and an adjacent 691-space parking garage.

Clark is a member of the Edgemoor-Star America Judicial Partners (ESJP) team selected to design-build-finance-operate-maintain the new courthouse. Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate and Star America Howard County Courthouse are leading the project development. The ESJP team also includes HOK as lead architect and Johnson Controls as facilities manager.

The project has been heralded as the first availability-payment structured social infrastructure public-private partnership (P3) to reach financial close in the U.S. outside of California. ESJP reached simultaneous commercial and financial close just 11 months after issuance of the RFP, which was aided by an efficient and thoughtful procurement process by Howard County. Through a continued partnership between the County and ESJP, the team has thus far been able to successfully reach every milestone the County set out to achieve.

Among the speakers at the groundbreaking was Howard County Executive Calvin Ball.

“Our new courthouse will enhance public safety and security, while also improving sustainability,” said Ball. “The current courthouse is almost two centuries old and is simply not equipped to handle our population, increased caseloads, technology needs, and maximize victim safety. As we break ground on the largest capital project in the history of our county, we are ushering in a new era of safety, innovation, and justice in Howard County.”

Construction of the new circuit courthouse is scheduled to be complete in July 2021. ESJP will operate and maintain the new facility for 30 years.