New courthouse riddled with unfinished repairs

To the casual visitor, Broward County’s new downtown courthouse is an impressive tower, with a spacious design and stately finishes.

But a closer inspection would reveal a building still not finished almost two years after it opened for business. The problems range from a leaky exterior to humming courtroom light fixtures to excessive condensation from the 20-story building’s air-conditioning system.

In the past two years, the county has identified almost 20,000 “punch-list” items that need to be completed by the contractor for the Fort Lauderdale building. More than 3,400 of those items, both major and minor, still remained as of September.

“I was very surprised to learn … the enormity of the problems,”

County Commissioner Mark Bogen said. “I was surprised to learn we have construction defects on every floor.”

But county officials say taxpayers who paid for the $197 million edifice are protected. “The things that need to be repaired are at no additional cost to the county,” Assistant County Administrator Alphonso Jefferson said. comment on the amount of money the county would be seeking to settle the issues.

Danny Hoisman, Tutor Perini’s executive vice president for Florida operations, did not return phone calls seeking comment.