The west wing of the second floor of the Dallas County Courthouse has sat empty for several months, but that’s about to change in the coming weeks.

The space is to be repurposed as a new courtroom, as requested by the 5th Judicial Court. Most recently, it contained the Recorder’s Office and Treasurer’s Tax Department, which were both moved to the first floor this past summer. Since then, the County has been working with the Farnsworth Group on the design of the courtroom, which has been finalized and put out to bid. The bids will be received on February 13th at 2:15 p.m., and will be considered by the Board of Supervisors at 10 a.m. on February 18th during their regular meeting.

The estimated project cost is around $370,000, though that doesn’t include prices for technological upgrades that have been requested by the District Court and recommended by the Farnsworth Group. The bid packages have the technology piece as an alternate, though, so it’s ultimately up to the Board to decide if it’s worth the pricetag. Once the contract is awarded, the County expects the project to take a minimum of two months to complete.