Kaptur: $104 Million Toledo Federal Courthouse Addition Approved

Toledo, OH – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur formally announced today at a Toledo Civic Center Mall Oversight Committee meeting that both chambers of Congress last week approved the final inclusion of the major $100 million modernization to the historic Federal Courthouse Plaza in downtown Toledo for the Northern District of Ohio. The upgrade of the Toledo Federal Courthouse and the construction of an annex are one of only eight similar federal courthouse projects approved for this fiscal year.

"An investment of more than $100 million investment in the heart of our City provides our community not only an opportunity for jobs and beautification of our historic Mall,” said Kaptur. “It also challenges us to envision how this new structure can integrate various activities on the Mall, and to provide new energy production in its design and siting, as well as attract new commercial activity in the Mall corridor.”

This project provides for the design and construction of a new, 96,000-square-foot U.S. Courthouse Annex and inside parking spaces, and for the repair and alteration of the existing Ashley Courthouse building.

Kaptur made today’s announcement at the meeting of the Toledo Civic Center Mall Oversight Committee, a local coalition of civic, philanthropic, business, and local government leaders who have been unwavering in their efforts for nearly two decades to assure that Toledo's Federal Courthouse is modernized to meet the security and‎ justice requirements of its growing caseload and the surrounding Civic Center Mall are improved to their intended splendor.

Kaptur applauded all gathered for their continuing efforts to see this major investment as a means to upgrade the design and function of the Toledo Civic Center Mall, draw our legal and justice services in closer proximity, be mindful of assuring improved access for surrounding arterials and connectivity to adjacent neighborhoods. The design will require careful attention to the current historic Ashley Courthouse‎, much as the addition to the Toledo Museum of Art’s required architectural genius.

“It isn't every community in America that receives back over $100 million of it hard-earned tax dollars for civic improvement‎,” said Kaptur. “Thank you to the Obama Administration for ‎recognizing Toledo has waited its turn for a very long time. We are grateful, if not ecstatic, and ‎I look forward to the day when we can all cut the ribbon on our district's new Federal‎ Courthouse addition.”

According to the General Services Administration, or GSA, “the project will provide six courtrooms and eight chambers to accommodate eight judges (two active district, two seniors, one visiting, one magistrate and two bankruptcy). Other court related tenants include the Federal Public Defender (Trial Prep) and the U.S. Department of Justice (the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Trustee, and the Office of the U.S. Attorney).”

Kaptur gave special thanks today to the Northern District of Ohio’s Chief Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., and those judges currently serving in the Toledo courthouse, namely Judge David Katz, Judge James Carr, Judge Jack Zouhary, Judge Jeffrey Helmick, and Magistrate Judge James Knepp.

Congresswoman Kaptur serves on the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees funding over federal construction projects.

###