County Buying Downtown Parcel for Future

SAN DIEGO-County leaders today are expected to acquire Downtown property for a new courthouse building.

The land bounded by Union, B, State and C streets would accommodate a 70-courtroom, 600,000-sf facility to replace the antiquated complex at Broadway and consolidate the aging traffic court building in Kearny Mesa.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is poised to consider buying land from George “King” Stahlman of King Stahlman Bail Bonds and another property owner, Realty Parking Properties, with land on the block north of the current Hall of Justice. The combined price of the property is more than $7.4 million. A third property owner would have an option to sell is land for an estimated $2.75 million.

The land purchase is only the first step toward eventually building a courthouse at the site. Funding for the project is not yet in place, even though bills are wending their way through the Legislature that would free hundreds of millions of dollars statewide for court construction.

In fact, the county hasn’t decided for certain that the courthouse will be built at the location. The land could also house county administration functions if another court site is chosen, county officials say.