Modesto will have a vacant courthouse this year. Housing, shops are among possible uses
Modesto has begun exploring how to reuse the courthouse that will be vacant after the new one opens this fall.
Multistory housing, ground-floor shops and other uses could happen on the block bounded by 11th, 12th, H and I streets. It includes the current Stanislaus County Courthouse, the Hall of Records and the already closed jail.
About 40 people brainstormed ideas with the city staff at a Tuesday, Jan. 21, workshop at The Century, an event space on 10th Street. Among the suggestions were a restaurant, a hotel, children’s entertainment and a showcase of the area’s food and wine.
The new courthouse at 10th and H streets is scheduled to open in October, said Jessica Hill, director of community and economic development. In the meantime, the city will assess the condition of the current site, including asbestos and other possible hazards.
The state and county governments own different parts of the block. The city aims to purchase the site by year’s end. It then will seek developers, possibly as a public-private venture. The project designs, costs, financing and timeline are not yet known.
Hill said the city plans to hold another workshop in mid-2025.
First courthouse dates to Victorian era
The block had an earlier courthouse, erected in 1872 in the ornate Victorian style. The Hall of Records was added in 1938, in the Bauhaus school of Modernist architecture. The current main courthouse followed in 1960, with similar spare detailing.
The much bigger new building will bring together functions now scattered across several locations. The main courthouse handles criminal cases. The Hall of Records deals with family law, such as child custody. Probate and civil lawsuits are heard in the City Towers building on 10th Street. Traffic court is on Floyd Avenue.
The Hall of Records is especially worth preserving, said workshop attendee Bob Barzan, architecture curator at the Modesto Art Museum.
“It’s a significant building, and it’s big,” he said. “It gives some substance to downtown Modesto. If it could be creatively reused, that would be great.”
The Hall of Records rises five stories on its I2th Street side and three along I Street. The three-story main courthouse occupies most of 11th Street side. The former jail at 12th and H is also three floors. Inmates are now held at the Public Safety Center off Crows Landing Road.
I Street park has shade and noted statue
City officials plan to maintain the small park along I street. It has generous shade trees, a war memorial and a statue of Chief Estanislao, the county’s Indigenous namesake.
The state is covering the $352 million cost of the new courthouse. It will be three stories along 10th Street, including the public lobby, and eight stories along Ninth Street.
The City Council in 2020 adopted a downtown master plan that anticipated the old block becoming available. The document has an artist rendering of 72 apartments in three stories where the courthouse and jail now sit.
Both structures have broad facades with few entrances — hardly a vibrant streetscape. Redevelopers might slice them into smaller pieces, with walkways between them. The block already has an interior brick courtyard, off-limits to the public for now.
Breakout groups write down ideas
Tuesday’s audience broke into groups that wrote down ideas on large sheets of paper. They then presented them to the entire audience.
One favored agri-tourism, highlighting the county’s diverse farms. Group spokesman Barrett Lipomi, a local architect, likened it to San Francisco’s Ferry Building.
Nico Solorio spoke for a group whose ideas included a “makers space” for craftspeople and a farmers market. It also supported housing above storefronts, similar to the six-story apartment building that will start construction on Seventh Street this year. Solorio also is involved in police oversight and other causes.
Another group agreed with apartments above shops but also liked an upscale hotel and restaurant for the site. What not to build there? Another parking garage for downtown, or more office space, said the group’s presenter, Kirstie Boyett, past chairwoman of the Modesto Chamber of Commerce.
Only 1% of Modestans live downtown
The downtown master plan noted that the district has a large number of daytime office workers, and dining and entertainment into the night. But only 1% of Modestans live there, and most retail is on Sisk Road and other sprawling strips.
The master plan imagines 1,550 housing units by 2040. Most would be near the Ninth Street depot for the Altamont Corridor Express, which could run its first train to San Jose by late next year. Other clusters would be at the old courthouse, on Ninth and 10th streets, and in the part of west Modesto near Highway 99.
The plan envisions easy walking and bicycling to workplaces and other destinations. It would convert I Street from four motor-vehicle lanes to two on its entire length. Widened sidewalks and bike lanes would fill the space, which abuts the Gallo Center for the Arts and the ACE station.
The city does not yet have funding for most of the street work in the plan, or developers for the possible housing.
