ISLE OF WIGHT—The county plans to ask for bids in January and award a construction bid in March for Isle of Wight’s new courts facility building.

The new building, which will officially be named the Young-Laine Courts Building, will be 47,824 square feet and will be constructed on county-owned land just north of the existing county complex on U.S. Route 258. The property is the former county fairgrounds.

The building will house three courtrooms — for the county’s circuit, general district, and juvenile and domestic relations courts — the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, clerk offices for the aforementioned courts, and a records room, which will be named after Randall Booth.

Offices for the Victim Witness, VStop and Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) programs will also be set up in the building. The Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Department will also have offices there.

Moseley Architects, a Richmond-based firm, designed the new courthouse building.

Patrick Small, the county’s assistant administrator, said in November that the new facility was needed because “the court functions have outgrown the space that they’re in” and because the current building doesn’t “meet modern security standards, they don’t serve the public, (and) they don’t have enough office space (or) document storage.”

The current building will eventually be refurbished and used by the sheriff’s department, Small said.

The county recently issued $25 million in bonds for several projects, including the courts facility, which will cost a reported $16.5 million. The interest rate is 5.7 percent. Taxes will not go up, county officials have said.