Project to restore the St. Joseph County Courthouse

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners sharing plans to restore the county courthouse from recent water damage.

The County-City Building and courthouses were closed for several days a couple weeks ago after a water main break in Courthouse One.

They've already dried out parts of the building that were damaged from the flooding to prepare for construction.

In the meantime, they plan to use different courtrooms throughout these buildings while the $65,000 restoration project is underway.

Water main break at the St. Joseph County Courthouse caused extensive damage, including flooded floors, damaged ceilings, walls, carpeting, and areas of the bathrooms, affecting two courtrooms in Courthouse One.

All the water is dried out and on Tuesday, the Board of Commissioners announced plans to restore the damage.

White House, a water damage restoration service based in Mishawaka, will handle the project with the work expected to take about four to five weeks.

Jonathan Baker, the Facility Maintenance Manager for St. Joseph County says that they received several proposals, with White House being the best one to allow the judges and everyone else to return to work there soon.

“They're going to do a complete turnkey operation on repairing walls, floors and ceilings, meanwhile before that we made sure all piping and everything that was exposed or in that area was inspected and replaced as necessary," said Baker.

Since the county owns the building, the county is committed to making the repairs necessary to this building, rather than moving the court system to a whole different location.

ABC57 did reach out to White House Restoration for an interview to expand more on the plans for the courthouse.

They declined, citing that St. Joseph County is a private client and they aren't allowed to disclose information on the project.