Designs for new Alabama statehouse approved; site work already underway

Construction on a new Alabama statehouse has begun.

In a letter to legislators, Secretary of the Legislative Council Othni Lathram, Secretary of the Alabama Senate D. Patrick Harris and House Clerk John E. Treadwell said designs for the new statehouse had been approved. The letter was sent to media outlets Wednesday.

“While there remains a good bit of interior design and detail work to finalize, enough progress has been made to move forward with site work,” they wrote.

The building will replace the current statehouse, occupied by the Legislature since 1986, and will be the first new statehouse built in the United States since Florida completed its Capitol Complex in 1977.

Harris said the plan is to complete the project in three to three and a half years, and he did not have cost estimates.

“We’re still in the design aspect of it,” he said by phone.

The Retirement Systems of Alabama is overseeing the project.

Neah Scott, legislative counsel with the Retirement Systems of Alabama, said the agency is early in the process and is not sure what the timeline will look like, but it will be done on a “timely” basis.

She said a cost estimate is part of finalizing the design.

The current statehouse, initially planned as a temporary location for lawmakers, has deteriorated in recent years. It has faced flooding and mold issues as well as criticism for being inaccessible to the public.

The new building will be erected on the site of a parking lot behind the current statehouse. On Wednesday, fencing was up around the site, and construction workers were operating excavators.

Legislators authorized the construction of the new building in the spring. In September, a design subcommittee was established, which approved designs on Oct. 27, according to the letter.