After more than a century on 21st Avenue, Lauderdale County government offices will move to their new home as the new county government complex is on track to finish around Labor Day.

The $50 million, 84,000 square foot complex, which is located at the sight of the old Village Fair Mall along 22nd Avenue, will house courtrooms, judges, tax assessor and collector, the board of supervisors, county administration and more in a newly constructed courthouse building.

Next door, the old LabCorp building has been renovated to house the drug intervention court, maintenance shop and the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department. The law enforcement agency was able to move into their new space last fall and has celebrated its expanded and modernized space.

The idea to build a new government complex is not a new one as decades of grand jury reports have criticized the county for dilapidated and insufficient facilities for court functions, law enforcement and more. In an address to the Lauderdale County Bar Association in 2015, then Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller said the current courthouse on 21st Avenue was “the worst courthouse in the state.”

The current courthouse was first constructed in 1905, with an additional floor and the Lauderdale County jail added on to the building in the 1930s as a project under the Works Progress Administration. Since then, deferred maintenance and a lack of investment have caused the condition of the courthouse to deteriorate.

Despite years of discussion, an effort to meet the county’s needs did not bear fruit until the board of supervisors chose to move forward with the project.

District 1 Supervisor Jonathan Wells, who serves as president of the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors, said there wasn’t one particular reason why the current board was the one to take action. Every supervisor has stacks of critical grand jury reports, he said, and it just got to the point where something had to be done.

“I think it just got to the point where this board decided they weren’t going to kick the can down the road any longer,” he said.

Lauderdale County government is also much bigger than it was when the current facilities were built, and additional space was needed for it to run efficiently, Wells said.

Lauderdale County purchased the old Village Fair Mall site in June 2019 for $1.25 million and set to work demolishing and clearing the land for construction of the new courthouse. Designed by LPK Architects, the new courthouse will be both welcoming to the public and secure to keep the judges, jury members and court staff safe while they go about their duties.

The decision to locate at the old Village Fair Mall came after considering multiple other options, Wells said. The county looked at renovating the current courthouse, renovating the Raymond P. Davis Annex, leasing the old Federal Courthouse, which now holds the U.S. Post Office, and even spreading out to different buildings in the downtown area.

Each idea brought with it pros and cons, Wells said, and the Board of Supervisors ultimately chose to purchase the old mall and build a new courthouse building. New construction not only allowed the county to design the building to meet the needs of its departments, it also took care of a blighted property in full view of passers-by on the interstate.

“We also knew that we would be taking care of an eyesore that our community has been dealing with for several years,” he said.

Demolition of old site was completed in 2020, and pylons were installed to support the new building’s foundation in 2021. While prep work on the courthouse building was underway, crews were also working inside the LabCorp building to renovate it into the future home of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.

Steel, concrete and brickwork continued on the courthouse throughout 2022 along with security upgrades and changes to the sheriff’s department. Deputies were finally given the green light to move into their new space in September.

As the project moves into 2023, much of the exterior of the new courthouse is complete and efforts are underway to flesh out the inside, install sheetrock, connect lighting and lay floors. Outside, the county has awarded a project to construct a boulevard that will connect the complex to 22nd Avenue. Landscaping projects have also been bid out and awarded.

Wells said the government complex was purposely located near the back of the purchased property to leave the front parcels open for private development. The county has had multiple developers express interest in the parcels and is working toward a sale.

County departments have already begun preparing for the move, with the Board of Supervisors approving lists of documents to be destroyed each month. State statute outlines what documents must be kept and how long, but each county office is working to reduce the amount of paperwork it will need moved to the new facility.

Once county offices have relocated to the 22nd Avenue complex, Lauderdale County Archives and History will relocate from the Raymond P. Davis Annex to the old courthouse. Supervisors have said they plan to sell the annex to a private developer or business looking for a downtown property.

As workers continue construction on the new courthouse, excitement is in the air across all county departments. Elected officials from the district attorney to the tax collector have said they and their staffs are looking forward to the move.

Supervisors are also working with the county election commissioners to develop a plan for their move as well. While commissioners are also enthusiastic to get settled in the new space, their move might be postponed as the projected move-in date is right in the middle of the 2023 elections. The board of supervisors has assured commissioners they will be able to stay in their current spot until the election cycle is over.