PRESS RELEASE: ESJP Breaks Ground on the Howard County Circuit Courthouse Project

June 27, 2019

Edgemoor-Star America Judicial Partners Breaks Ground on the Howard County Circuit Courthouse Project On June 24, 2019, Edgemoor-Star America Judicial Partners (ESJP), comprised of Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate and Star America Howard County Courthouse, LLC, an affiliate of Star America Infrastructure Partners, LLC, broke ground on the public-private partnership (P3) with Howard County to develop and operate a new circuit courthouse for the County.

A standing room only crowd of 150+ attended the groundbreaking ceremony, which concluded with Howard County Executive Calvin Ball operating the excavator that tore down a portion of the existing Thomas Dorsey Building to make way for the new courthouse.

County Executive Calvin Ball operating excavator during demolition

“As we break ground on the largest capital project in the history of our county, we are ushering in a new era of safety, innovation, and justice in Howard County,” stated Ball as he addressed the crowd.

The project features a 238,000-square-foot LEED Silver circuit courthouse, a 691-space parking garage, and public outdoor space on the 29-acre site. The new courthouse will replace the County’s current courthouse in old Ellicott City, which originally opened its doors in 1843.

“We have all done the very best that we can do, but those who need to use the courthouse— litigants, jurors, staff—we need to have a building that’s technology appropriate, helpful, and most of all, secure and safe,” said Senior Judge Lenore Gelfman. “There are some areas of the building that are not easily accessible, putting additional burden on security and safety in case of emergency.”

“The new courthouse will allow the staff, judges, departments, and litigants to do the absolute best for the public,” Gelman said, “to promote the judiciary mission of access to justice.” “Thoughtful deliberation and planning went into every part of this courthouse.”

Over 150 people were in attendance for the groundbreaking

The new courthouse was designed with security, safety, and sustainability in mind. It

will separate the circulation paths of detainees, staff, and the public. ESJP has designed a LEED Silver courthouse featuring high efficiency materials and systems; however, the team is currently exploring achieving LEED Gold Certification through the addition of a PV solar array on the roof. Additionally, ESJP’s site plan will reduce impervious surface on the site by over 50%, a rare achievement in a development project.

County and Project Team representatives during ceremonial dirt turn

Howard County Sheriff Marcus Harris noted, “The new courthouse is going to be beautiful but, at the end of the day, my main focus is on the security of that new courthouse. You are going to have one of the safest circuit court buildings in the country.”

The project has been heralded as the first availability-payment structured social infrastructure P3 to reach financial close in the U.S. outside of California. ESJP reached simultaneous commercial and financial close just 11 months after issuance of the RFP, which was aided by an efficient and thoughtful procurement process by Howard County. Through a continued partnership between the County and ESJP, the team has thus far been able to successfully reach every milestone the County set out to achieve.

“Thank you to Howard County for being such a great partner,” said ESJP CEO Brian Dugan.

“Numerous public-sector owners, reporters, conference hosts, and others have contacted me and our consortium trying to learn from our partnership with Howard County and understand just how Howard County did it, and did it so efficiently. Our success sends a strong positive signal to private companies that want to do work with Howard County or locate their businesses here.”

Construction of the new circuit courthouse is currently ontime and scheduled to be completed in July 2021, after which the ESJP team will operate and maintain it for30 years.

In addition to Edgemoor and Star America as co-developers, the ESJP consortium includes Clark Construction Group and Harkins Builders as contractors, HOK as lead designer, and Johnson Controls as facilities manager.

ESJP Project CEO Brian Dugan

Contact Information Brian Dugan brian.dugan@edgemoor.com Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 620 Bethesda, MD 20814 O: (301) 272-2998