Photos: New Courthouse Opens In Coming Weeks

JOLIET, IL — Around the same time the Chicago Bears will reach the halfway point of their 2020 NFL schedule, the new Will County Courthouse will open in downtown Joliet. It's the third downtown building at least 10 stories tall, Will County Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt remarked.

On Monday, for the first time since the pandemic, Joliet Patch joined Schoenstedt for one of his construction tours at the soon-to-be opening Will County Courthouse.

Schoenstedt said the new courthouse will open for use in early or mid November. "Sometime in the first two weeks in November," he predicted. "We know the building will be done ... It's more about the move of all the computers and telephones. I've got to close the current courthouse for some period of time, maybe a half day on a Friday."

He told Joliet Patch the three-year-long construction project is at least 95 percent done.

"I know it looks messy and it looks undone," he told Patch, adding that the areas of the building cluttered with large boxes of furniture and building supplies can be cleaned up quickly.

Will County officials held a groundbreaking ceremony the week before Christmas in December 2017. Schoenstedt told Patch that Will County will be holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new courthouse at 11 a.m. on Oct. 9 in the first floor lobby of the new $215 million building.

The new Will County courthouse features 38 courtroom and dozens of conference rooms throughout the 10 floors for lawyers to meet with clients or to hold mediation and arbitration hearings.

One of the highlights of the new courthouse is a large cafeteria area on the fifth floor.

The county will contract with a vendor to provide soups, sandwiches, salads and daily specials. There will not be any fried or grilled meals at the new courthouse cafeteria, Schoenstedt said.

"I do believe strongly that we need a cafeteria. Lawyers need somewhere to go to negotiate cases," remarked Schoenstedt.

Traffic court will be on the first floor while felony cases will be heard on the fourth and fifth floors. The third floor will be used for misdemeanor cases. Other floors throughout the new building will be used for civil cases including divorce, child custody matters and civil litigation.

The new courthouse features an escalator from the first floor to the second floor. There is another escalator between the second and third floor.

Officials at the Will County Government Office Building on North Chicago Street indicated Monday that a final decision has not been made on whether the current courthouse will be torn down. Many public officials and county employees have told Patch that they hope Will County demolishes the current four-story courthouse rather than try to repurpose the building for other county offices.

"I would predict by early next year that it will be empty," Schoenstedt told Joliet Patch during Monday's tour.