[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Courthouse renovations expected to be completed by August

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Courthouse renovations expected to be completed by August

Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 2:03 PM     Updated: Wednesday, May 23,
2012, 2:04 PM

 By Kate Mabry, The Times-Picayune 

Renovations on the St. Bernard Parish Courthouse will likely continue into
the summer, and while the cost of the project has increased since its
original estimate, the parish president anticipates the cost will be
slightly less than last summer's prediction.

In 2005, the courthouse's staff returned to work shortly after Hurricane
Katrina's floodwaters subsided, but in 2010, contractors discovered a
substantial amount of mold in the three-story building's walls and air
ducts. When repairs on the building began in April 2010, the 34th Judicial
District Court moved into six offices on West Judge Perez Drive in the
Village Square strip mall, which is located about a mile from the 1930s-era
courthouse.  

While the mold remediation was completed in July, the wall-to-wall
restoration of the courthouse continues. The renovations, which are part of
a FEMA-funded restoration project, originally were estimated to cost $3
million. By July the estimates had ballooned to $12.5 million, according to
then-Parish President Craig Taffaro. However, Parish President Dave Peralta
said the renovations will cost about $11.5 million.

While the project's cost dramatically increased from the original $3 million
estimate, the completion time for the project also has stretched on.
Construction on the project, which began in December 2010, was also
estimated to be completed by Dec. 21, 2011, but Peralta said renovations
will likely be go on until late August.

Randy Nunez, the incoming clerk of court who will take office on July 1,
said many expected the construction to end by June after the original
December completion date passed. Until last month, Nunez said he assumed
Lena Torres, the current clerk of court, would handle the transfer from the
offices at the Village Square to the newly renovated courthouse. But now
that seems unlikely. 

Prior to the current renovations, the temporary move has marked the first
time court has been held outside the St. Bernard Parish Courthouse since
1939.

The courthouse was initially built during the Great Depression under
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. While
creating the courthouse's design, Solis Seiferth, the building's architect,
was inspired by the grand temple in Mesopotamia, an ancient building in
Iraq, and the construction of the building was encouraged by Gov. Huey P.
Long, said Parish Historian William Hyland. 

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