Restaurants are anticipating larger lunch crowds. Attorneys have
begun to look for office space.
Morgan Hill
Restaurants are anticipating larger lunch crowds. Attorneys have begun to look for office space. The city has even built a walkway to facilitate the daily movement of hundreds of employees and patrons of the new South Santa Clara County Courthouse into the downtown area. Now small business owners are just waiting for the long delayed courthouse to open.
“We’re shooting for February 2009,” said project manager Ken Rado. Construction started in 2004, and was originally projected to be complete in 2006.
After construction is finished, it will be a few more weeks before it will open for business, as people and furniture move from the current courthouse site down the road in San Martin.
The new facility is on the corner of Butterfield Boulevard and Diana Avenue just east of downtown, and from the outside appears finished. Rado said all that remains is testing of mechanical and electrical systems, inspections and a list of small items.
City staff has developed extensive downtown revitalization plans around the courthouse project, and paid $7 million for the property. Downtown restaurants could use the boost that is virtually guaranteed by up to 300 employees and 1,000 visitors in town each day at the new facility.
Morgan Hill officials and business people celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new “pedestrian plaza” between the courthouse and the CalTrain station Wednesday night.
The plaza, built with money from the city’s redevelopment agency and water replacement funds, serves as a walkers’ conduit from the courthouse to the downtown Morgan Hill business district via Third Street. The walkway is expected to facilitate interest in the city’s Third Street Promenade project when it is complete. Construction crews are currently in the process of placing utility lines underground for that endeavor, the purpose of which is to make the downtown area more attractive to visitors on foot, Mayor Steve Tate explained at the ribbon cutting.
“What good is a bustling downtown, if you can’t get to it (from the courthouse)?” Tate said.
Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Christine Giusiana said attorneys from throughout South County have been inquiring about office space in the city, and the courthouse’s expected crowds will fill restaurants from downtown to Cochrane Road.
But city staff and business owners have made these kinds of comments for four years. Some are now growing tired of the delays that keep piling one on top of the other. City Councilman Greg Sellers said after the public presentation that the city could have used the sales tax revenue two years ago.
The city’s director of business assistance and housing services, Garrett Toy, explained the city receives 1 percent of total sales tax in Morgan Hill, and he expects those sales to jump once the courthouse is operational.
“But the real benefit is to downtown merchants,” Toy said. “Jurors, when they’re deliberating, usually go downtown for lunch. I imagine a lot of vacant office spaces will be occupied by attorneys, and they’ll patronize downtown.”
Elaine Stoddard, co-owner of Ragoots restaurant on the corner of Monterey Road and Third Street, joked, “Hopefully we’ll still be in business by then,” when asked if she expects bigger lunch crowds when the courthouse opens.
Another co-owner of Ragoots, Colleene Isaacs, said they have discussed expanding their lunch menu in anticipation of the courthouse opening.
Rosy Bergin, owner of Rosy’s at the Beach across the street from Ragoots, has experience serving clientele from the justice system. She said she owned a restaurant in downtown San Jose 10 years ago, and a large portion of her lunch and happy hour business was from the nearby main courthouse. She said she is “very excited” about serving a similar crowd again.
And Brad Jones, owner of BookSmart on Second Street, said, “The downtown association supported the courthouse because they felt it would be a catalyst for downtown. Why it has taken so long is mind boggling.”
The root of the delays is a tense financial dispute between the county and the courthouse construction contractor, West Bay Builders. The two parties have agreed to finish the building, but are scheduled to go into mediation in May 2009 to avoid litigation.
Paul Thompson, president of West Bay Builders, said the county claims the contractor is responsible for poor workmanship and lack of coordination at the work site. The contractor says the county presented deficient designs that required West Bay to pay for multiple changes.
“It’s the project from hell,” said Thompson. “We can’t get it behind us, no matter how much money and resources and staff we spend on it.” He said there have been “thousands” of job clarifications and change order estimates delaying the completion of the courthouse.
Rado declined to confirm the county’s stance on the disagreement, but acknowledged there is a disagreement that has resulted in the project’s delays.
He also maintains that the project is within its original budget of about $52 million, which includes mid-project jumps in the cost of supplies such as steel and lumber. But if the contractor and many of the project’s sub-contractors have their way, the county could be shelling out a lot more than that.
Thompson said West Bay will be requesting “at least $5 million more” due to the delays, plus another $1 million to $2 million for unpaid change orders, plus an unspecified amount the sub-contractors are requesting.
When it’s finally done, Rado said, south county will have a “beautiful building that reflects the importance we place on the judicial system, and … a good environment for people to work in.”
In the meantime, court services will continue at a complex of portable buildings in San Martin. The south county courthouse that used to be in San Martin was abandoned in 1999, due to mold contamination.
Even those who don’t need the extra daytime business want their neighbors to succeed, and are hopeful the courthouse will bring that success.
“As far as helping downtown, we really need it,” said Shari Shepard, manager of Glory Days on Monterey Road near the corner of Third Street, which she said already has large crowds at lunch. “Everyone needs everything at this point.”
