Justice center project begins with names signed in concrete - The Denver Post

Justice center project begins with names signed in concrete - The Denver Post

Some of those involved in the plan to build a new state justice center in Denver marked the beginning of construction on Monday by signing their names in concrete.

Retiring Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey, who conceived of replacing the aging and overcrowded Colorado State Judicial Building, said the construction project will add 3,300 jobs to the state's economy, 2,000 of them with a direct link to the project and the rest the result of indirect employment.

"When I became chief justice in 1998, this project was only a gleam in my eye," said Mullarkey, who will retire in November.

The Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center will consolidate the state's judicial and legal agencies in a granite-clad complex that will feature a dome echoing the dome on the nearby state Capitol.

The complex will be state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly, said Gov. Bill Ritter.

The concrete slab that officials signed or initialed will be incorporated into the building, said Bill Mosher, managing director of developer Trammel Crow, the project manager.

Financing for the project, and the relocation of the Colorado History Museum, which shared the site, comes from over $300 million in bonds, the bulk of it in taxable Build America Bonds created under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Using the bonds resulted in savings of $77 million over typical tax exempt bonds, said State Treasurer Cary Kennedy.

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