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Aug 31, 2023

Santa Rosa Courthouse in downtown Milton modular building removed

A modular building that stood for close to 20 years behind the Santa Rosa County Courthouse and served the Clerk of Court's Office for far longer than anyone anticipated is being torn down to make

A modular building that stood for close to 20 years behind the Santa Rosa County Courthouse and served the Clerk of Court's Office for far longer than anyone anticipated is being torn down to make room for city of Milton development.

Though according to city spokesperson Bethany Anderson discussion of erecting permanent restroom facilities in the space occupied by the modular building is preliminary, it has been given consideration.

Virginia Wrecking began removing the buildings behind the former courthouse complex on Aug. 17, according to Santa Rosa County Administrator DeVann Cook, and has 60 days to complete demolition and removal. Cook said the company, based in Alabama, has also been tasked with repairing some of the back wall of the courthouse that will have been damaged as part of the removal process.

The Santa Rosa County Courthouse itself was built in 1927, and the modular building was put in behind the building sometime before 2010 to house 65 Clerk of Court staff and a functional courtroom. The move was made due to a lack of space within the County Courthouse and concerns about the condition of that building.

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In 2015, the Pensacola News Journal, in reporting done ahead of a vote on a sales tax to support construction of a new judicial center, quoted Clerk of Court Don Spencer as describing the rickety condition of the modular building at that time.

Soft and uneven spots on the floors hade been repaired underneath the structure, Spencer said. He described building beams that were leaning and supports that had shifted beneath the floor of the office.

“The building here was designed to last five years, and we’ve been here six or seven now,” Spencer told a reporter. “They’re holding up, but they’re slowly wearing out."

Cook said that Clerk's Office employees were still working inside the modular building, and it was still being utilized for county business, up until the time the move was made to the 115,000-square-foot building on Avalon Boulevard that was built to replace the Courthouse. The new Judicial Center opened for business on Jan. 17 of this year.

The first order of business for the city following demolition of the modular building will be to attach Oak Street, which runs east and west behind the courthouse, to Willing Street, which runs north and south to the east of the complex.

Cook said before the modular building was constructed, an old jail had blocked Oak Street from connecting Willing Street to Elmira Street and points beyond.

The area behind the old courthouse building is home to Jernigan's Landing. The city of Milton holds its Bands on the Blackwater events there, hosts an occasional Farmer's Market and conducts a Fourth of July celebration, Anderson said.

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The city's river walk and a Veteran's Memorial Park are also in close proximity to the area where the modular buildings are being removed.

Permanent bathrooms, something stainless steel for easy cleanup, would be a perfect fit for the area, Anderson said.

"Every time we have an event we have to haul out portable bathrooms," she said. "It would be great if we had them just for the events we have there now."

With the modular building removed, the city and county can move forward with a discussion on the ultimate fate of the County Courthouse building itself. There has been talk over the years of keeping it standing and possibly turning it into mixed-use shopping and residential development constructed to blend in with the historic appearance of downtown Milton.

The city at one time also proposed building an amphitheater on land behind the courthouse.