Tampa badly needs a new courthouse. The chief judge wants to build one.

TAMPA — When the water came back on after Hurricane Helene, it surged so hard against the iron pipework in the Hillsborough Courthouse Annex that a sink inside a jury restroom blew right off the wall. Judges and court staff returned to find water 6 inches deep in one second-floor courtroom and stained ceilings and drenched walls on the floor below.

Repairs to the aged building would involve pulling up outdated floor tiles and replacing obsolete plumbing parts.

The flood and subsequent thousands spent to remedy the damage underscored a much bigger and long-running problem: Tampa’s criminal courthouse is inadequate and needs to be replaced.

A facilities study commissioned a decade ago concluded as much. The study declared that the building was obsolete and inefficient for modern court needs. In short, it is a feng shui nightmare with structural, technological and security deficiencies.

For years, the county lacked the funding to build a new courthouse. That could be changing. Hillsborough Chief Judge Christopher Sabella and local leaders are working to secure the money and the plans to give Hillsborough County the courthouse they say it deserves.

“We’re pushing much harder now,” Sabella said.

Horrors of the Courthouse Annex

Jurors, witnesses and defendants alike enter Hillsborough County’s court facilities through the George Edgecomb Courthouse. The modern building, which opened in 2000, sits at the northeast corner of Twiggs and Jefferson streets in downtown Tampa.

But its windowed, curved edifice is a bit deceptive for those with business in criminal court, which almost always occurs across the street in what’s known as the Courthouse Annex.

The annex is a Frankenstein-like patchwork of three distinct structures.

The north tower stands at the corner of Twiggs and Jefferson streets, immediately south of the Edgecomb building. It was built in 1984.

The south tower, a six-story structure that sits closest to Kennedy Boulevard, was built in 1963.

A long, two-story spine runs north to south between the two towers. Its first floor is known as “felony row” because it houses several courtrooms where serious criminal cases are litigated.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands of people each day pass through its dour, labyrinthine hallways. Navigating them can be a challenge for the unfamiliar.

Two small elevators service the south end of the building, with three more on the north side. A ride in them is an intimate experience, the crammed confines giving passengers the opportunity to get to know each other by smell and touch. The elevators are so old that when they break down, replacement mechanical parts are not always readily available.

In the early 2000s, mice were not uncommon in annex courtrooms and judicial chambers. Stories abound of rodents scurrying before juries in the midst of trials. The infestation has since been eradicated, court officials say. But other problems persist.

Several annex courtrooms were originally offices. Though functional for conducting trials and clearing dockets, some feature building support columns that run directly through the room, obstructing views.

Repairs and renovations are a constant need. A modern stairwell was built in the annex about a decade ago.

All that costs money. And administrators say they can’t keep doing it.

“The county is spending, unfortunately, an exorbitant amount of money to maintain these properties that were deemed uninhabitable for the purpose intended,” said Hillsborough Court Administrator Gina Justice.

Beyond the aged structure itself are problems of capacity. The county’s burgeoning population has brought greater caseloads and, with them, the addition of eight new judicial seats.

There is limited courtroom and chamber space to accommodate all of the county’s 70 judges. Some civil courtrooms now sit alongside the annex’s felony courtrooms, putting lawsuit litigants next to criminal defendants.

Perhaps most concerning are the building’s security vulnerabilities. In-custody defendants await their court hearings in decrepit holding cells, where graffiti-covered walls proclaim things like “free Chi-Chi.” To get to the courtrooms, deputies escort the defendants through the same hallways the judges use to get to their chambers.

Some courtrooms are not accessible through those halls, requiring deputies to sometimes take dangerous prisoners through the public hallways.

Hope for a new building

After the architectural study in 2016 concluded that the annex was outdated, court officials lobbied county leaders for a new building. But the money wasn’t there.

Last year, though, the possibility became more realistic when Hillsborough County voters approved the renewal of the Community Investment Tax. The half-percent sales tax has for almost 30 years helped to pay for the county’s infrastructure, utilities, schools and public safety projects.

About $155 million of the funds raised from the tax are now earmarked for the construction of a new court building.

A new courthouse was discussed in a recent meeting of the Public Safety Coordinating Council, a conglomeration of local law enforcement and county leaders, including State Attorney Suzy Lopez. Committees on county technology and facilities also intend to discuss the plan.

There is already talk about where a new building would go and what it might look like.

One possible location lies directly east of the annex. A pair of small offices and a now-closed Firestone auto shop sit on a block of county-owned land there. They could be demolished to accommodate a new building.

Another possibility has a new courthouse on the block of county land at 700 E. Twiggs St., the current home of the Hillsborough Public Defender’s Office.

The latter option is the one Sabella likes best. He envisions that block allowing a courthouse that could be built “up, not out,” with a pedestrian bridge from the new building across Jefferson Street into the Edgecomb building.

If they built there, Sabella said, the county could sell the block east of the annex and use the money to help cover the construction costs.

He envisions a new courthouse with a design similar to that of the federal courthouse a few blocks away. The 18-story tower carries a modern layout with separate circulation systems for the public, judges and staff, and law enforcement and detainees.

“We’re going to continue to grow,” Sabella said. “While we’ve got shovels in our hand I’d like to build for as far in the future as we can.”

The trouble is the $155 million won’t cover the total cost of a new building, which is estimated to run north of $300 million. The remainder would need to come from somewhere else.

Sabella has spoken with all of Hillsborough County’s commissioners. They’ve toured the annex. They’ve all been supportive, he said.

“We’re just going to have to get them to reach deeper in their pockets,” Sabella said.

Commissioner Harry Cohen, a lawyer who has worked for decades in Tampa courtrooms, is well aware of its problems. He anticipates further discussions later this year about commissioning an updated facilities study and plans for what a new courthouse would look like.

“Once we have a plan, we will probably start engaging some of our leaders to help us with funding,” Cohen said.

Commissioner Chris Boles also recognizes the need. He noted, though, that it won’t be cheap. County leaders will need to figure out how to pay for it. That may mean asking for the Legislature’s help.

“At some point,” he said, “we’re going to have to bite the bullet on it.”