Jail House Rock
North Las Vegas Builds its Largest Project
By Tony Illia

A new $29.7 million regional justice facility is rapidly taking shape in North Las Vegas.
Designed by RAFI Architects of Las Vegas, the two-story, 96,000-sq.-ft. building will house the city's municipal court and detention center operations. Funded by general obligation bonds, the undertaking is the largest capital improvement project in North Las Vegas city history.

Clark & Sullivan Contractors Inc. of Las Vegas is the general contractor, with Harris & Associates Inc. of Concord, Calif. as consulting engineer.

advertisement

Situated on 8.25 acres, the energy-efficient facility is needed to expand the city's municipal court, which handled >> 8,797 criminal complaints and 40,557 traffic citations last year. By comparison, the nearby city of Henderson handled less than half the amount of volume with double the number of courtrooms.

"Our current facility was always deemed temporary," said Municipal Judge Warren VanLandschoot. The courtroom and supporting staff are now housed in a trailer on the city hall campus.

"Simply put, we have outgrown our facility," he added. "The growth we've experienced in our community has been mirrored by similar growth in court caseload."

North Las Vegas has grown by 188.6 percent since 1990.

The new justice facility will have enough space for a second and third courtroom.
When completed, the municipal court portion of the new center will house 65 employees from administration, court operations, judicial enforcement, warrants, and bailiff services.

"It's much larger than what our existing court is today and it allows for future growth," said Gregory Rose, North Las Vegas's city manager. "Having those courtroom and detention center functions together will make for a smoother transition."

The detention portion consists of two detention cells, six isolation cells, eight holding cells, medical facilities, video visitation area and booking facilities. It will house approximately 40 employees from the city's Operations and Services Divisions.

The 36-ft.-tall steel-framed building, clad in a combination of masonry block, EIFS and glass, is located at Civic Center Drive and Las Vegas Boulevard. It has three distinctive faux domes made of glass- fired reinforced concrete (GFRC), situated atop copulas. The central dome, which measures 19 ft. in diameter, is flanked by two smaller domes that mark the public entrances for the detention and courtroom areas.
Greek Doric columns made of the same concrete line the building.

"The city wanted the facility to have a classical judicial feel," said Monica Gresser, RAFI's project director. "So we drew upon ancient architecture, using the copula and domes to symbolize strength and justice."

There are still some modern touches that help cut heating and cooling expenses.
Horizontal and vertical perforated metal shading devices that run the length of the building help diffuse the natural light, minimizing glare while still allowing illumination.

There are nine, 6-ft.-tall steel shade devices on the building's west side. Also, the building uses low-UV glass and a reflective roof surface, which aids in regulating the building's climate.

The facility will be serviced by a central plant that houses three chillers, two cooling towers, five boilers and a back-up major generator. Lloyd's Refrigeration of Las Vegas is the HVAC contractor.

Set atop a concrete slab foundation, the new facility has roughly 6,800 ft. worth of conduit, much of it underneath the floor, said Steve Jones, a senior project manager with North Las Vegas-based All-Electric Inc., one of the project's subcontractors.

"It's very complex system with hook-ups for security cameras, fax machines, phones, computers, and keyless card entry," he added. "For the detention side of the building, we utilized a master-control system."

The first floor houses all the public functions such as courtrooms and detention areas, while the second level contains mostly offices. The 8.2-acre site has a 442-space surface parking lot with drought-tolerant landscaping.

There will be more than 125 people onsite during the height of construction activity, said Richard Applegarth, Clark & Sullivan's project manager. The new facility is scheduled to open by January.

>Taj Ma Garage
>Jail House Rock