TOLEDO, Ohio — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has advanced efforts to modernize a historic Toledo courthouse. On Dec. 6, the GSA selected Hill International, a global leader in managing construction risk, to manage upgrades to the James M. Ashley and Thomas W.L. Ashley U.S. Courthouse, located at the north end of the city’s Civic Mall. The two-year contract is valued at $2.2 million.

“We are honored that GSA has once again turned to Hill to help manage one of their most important courthouse projects,” said Vic Spinabelli, Jr., P.E., LEED AP, senior vice president in charge of Hill’s project management operations in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, in a statement. “We are very excited to be part of this historic modernization project.”

The Ashley U.S. Courthouse is home to the Northern Ohio District of the United States District Courts and Bankruptcy courts, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Federal Credit Union, according to the GSA website. It was originally built in 1932 and named for two former Ohio Congressmen, James M. Ashley and his great grandson Thomas W.L. Ashley. Spanning approximately 92,000-square-foot, the structure, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by Graham H. Woolfall in the Beaux Art Classicism style of architecture, and includes elements of Early Classical Revival, Greek Revival, Federal and Georgian architecture. The existing design features limestone veneer, a two-story exterior stone colonnade, and decorative public corridors and lobbies featuring terrazzo floors, marble wall veneers, bronze door frames and decorative plaster panels.

Estimated at $104 million, the modernization and restoration project will address necessary infrastructure improvements and security enhancements, according to a statement by Hill. It will also include the construction of a new 96,000-square-foot annex, to allow for judiciary growth. Designs are expected to be complete in 2017 and construction will likely be complete in 2018.

Speaking to the Toledo Blade following the project’s funding finalization in June 2016, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo noted that the funding would provide “an opportunity for cohesive planning and critical thinking” in the Toledo Civic Center Mall redevelopment.

“As we consider how the justice space will work, what we wrap around it is really important. In our time and generation, this is our moment to do something extraordinary for the mall and define us as a community,” Kaptur told the Toledo Blade.