The Junction City Commission approved the bid for Architectural and Engineering services for the municipal court renovation project Thursday night to Bruce McMillan AIA Architects.

The project would renovate and expand the city owned building at 701 N. Jefferson for the new site of the city’s municipal court.

The commission elected to renovate the 701 N. Jefferson building in December of last year, over renovating the court’s prior location at 725 W 7th Street which has extensive mold and water damage.

The commission also discussed why they decided not to build a new building.

“Part of the reason of keeping it close to city hall was that we can make it a multi-use structure,” Cheryl Beatty, Assistant City Manager explained.

” It was to be a multi-use facility next to city hall and using all efficiency’s that we could possibly think of to make this a good investment, a wise expenditure of dollars.”

The renovation project is expected to cost approximately $1.1 million and will include space for the municipal court as well as a new commission chamber. Building new was estimated to cost over $2 million.

City staff will now begin negotiating the cost of services moving forward and the final contract with Bruce McMillan Architects.