Sussex County Family Court construction on target for late 2025 completion
Construction of a new Sussex County Family Court building in Georgetown is progressing on schedule for completion by the end of 2025, a state court spokesperson said Nov. 19.
Construction began in June 2022 on the $115 million, 107,800-square-foot structure that will replace an outdated and overcrowded 30,000-square-foot building not far away on The Circle in Georgetown that was built in 1988.
“They are just overpacked in the existing building," said Sean O’Sullivan, a state courts spokesman. “This one is being built to modern standards. Frankly, the other building wasn’t safe and was inhospitable to people.”
Studies dating back decades showed the existing facility was unsafe by modern court standards, and caused issues for litigants and court staff. Among other problems, the waiting areas and courtrooms in the current courthouse do not allow for adequate and appropriate distance between litigants, and court staff have to share elevators and hallways with detainees, rather than each having their own secure areas.
The additional courtrooms will allow Family Court to better handle the volume of cases in Sussex County, which has nearly doubled since the existing Family Court courthouse opened.
The site is at the southeast corner of Race and East Market streets, across Race Street from the Sussex County Courthouse.
Work on the structure should be completed in August next year, O’Sullivan said. Then work will turn to outfitting the interior and the building, including furnishings, and it should open by the end of the year.
Among the state offices that will move into the building, in addition to court staff, are the Department of Justice, Office of Defense Services and Office of the Child Advocate. Most of those offices were located in space outside the Family Court building, including the Department of Justice, whose office was among the buildings leveled at the site of the new courthouse.
The new facility will have at least eight courtrooms with an average size between 1,400 and 1,800 square feet. The current courthouse has six courtrooms, each averaging 600 square feet.
There will be space in the new building for creating two additional courtrooms.
A 300-car parking garage at the new courthouse site would be the first in Georgetown.
While the existing Family Court building will revert to the control of state facilities management, it is not yet clear what will be the future use of the structure, O’Sullivan said. Delaware Facilities Management Division staff could not be reached Nov. 27 for comment.
