Work began in late April on a new $144 million Mendocino County Courthouse in Ukiah, Calif., according to mendofever.com.
The building, which is the largest civic project in county history, will be built alongside railroad tracks that cross Perkins Street — the main corridor linking Ukiah's commercial core to U.S. 101.
Hensel Phelps Construction is managing the construction, according to mendovoice.com.
More than 125 community members attended the April 30, 2025, groundbreaking for the three-story, seven-courtroom, 82,000-sq.-ft. courthouse, which will replace a circa 1951 predecessor. Completion is expected in 2027.
"The courthouse has been an important fixture in Ukiah's downtown for more than a century and a half," said Sage Sangiacomo, Ukiah city manager, according to mendovoice.com. "While our community has outgrown the current building in many ways, its critical role as an anchor remains. This investment by the state in a new facility, and their commitment to keeping it downtown, will benefit Ukiah tremendously — for another 150 years or more, we hope."
John Petty, operations director of Hensel Philips Construction, said the courthouse will have a modern design and be eco-friendly. Solar panel arrays will cover the parking lot to help power the new facility. The landscaping will include native, drought-tolerant plants. And the courthouse will apply for LEED certification.
The project has been 20 years in the making, according to mendofever.com, a process that included funding crises, numerous delays and public debates about location. The new location is three blocks from the existing courthouse downtown.
An unresolved issue is the lack of space for both the county district attorney and public defender. The DA's office is now on the bottom floor of the existing courthouse, while the public defender's office is on School Street a block from the existing courthouse.
The fate of the current courthouse also is up in the air. Mendocino County owns the building and land, but it would cost approximately $9 million in costs to bring the structure into compliance with seismic safety and accessibility standards, according to mendo-fever.com.
