Many Wake County employees are moving into a new downtown justice center this week.
County officials have invested three years of construction and $184 million in their new government headquarters. Office workers have begun setting up in the facility. The county's Register of Deeds will the first to open its doors Wednesday.
Wake County Manager David Cooke says the building is part of a long-term facilities plan. He says new jail facilities that were built solved only part of the problem.
"We had to wrestle with the space both for office space and for courtrooms so we decided that we needed a new courthouse or an additional courthouse," Cooke says.
"So we built this building with about a 30-year horizon so we want to make sure that we take care of needs not just now but 10, 20, 30 years into the future."
Cooke says the new center won't replace the old highrise courthouse. That building will be mostly for family and civil court while criminal court and county government will move to the new building. The grand opening will be July 1.
