News

County breaks ground on $173M judicial center

By Bill Moss, Published: October 8, 2025

Henderson County commissioners and administrators, Sheriff Lowell Griffin and contractors pitched shovels of dirt on Tuesday to mark the ceremonial start of the costliest capital project in county history by far — the $173.5 million jail addition and courthouse expansion.

County Manager John Mitchell, Griffin and commissioners all made reference to the long and at times contentious process that led to the elected board's decision to authorize the project.  

The $80.6 million jail addition by itself "is the largest capital improvement that this county has ever seen," Chair Bill Lapsley said. The courthouse expansion — a four-story addition costing $93 million that will dwarf the existing judicial building — brings the total cost to $173,544,385. The new total is nearly triple the price tag of the current record-holder, the $60 million renovation and new construction of Hendersonville High School.

"We're very proud of our community to be able to afford to do a project this size," Lapsley said. "This has been a long, arduous, detailed investigation" of the need and options. "We do not take it lightly. We know it's important. Public safety is No. 1 as far as the board is concerned and this project is a part of public safety. This is a big deal, we recognize it."

"The board's been really involved with this," Mitchell noted. "I can remember hours and hours of meetings with Commissioner Edney and Chairman Lapsley going line by line through this to make sure we get the value that the taxpayers deserve."

Commissioner Rebecca McCall said that at some point, given the study of the detention facility and courthouse needs over many years, commissioners had to pull the trigger on the new judicial center.

"We realized the longer we wait, the more those numbers are gonna go up," she said, noting that commissioners had made $25 million worth of cost trims before authorizing the project — with no property tax increase. "We want our contractor friends to know that everything we do is on time and under cost. You don't wanna buck that trend."

Griffin thanked commissioners for giving the green light to a needed improvement.

"I am proud to work with a governing board that recognizes the needs of the people they serve, and that's the reason we're here today," he said. "Understand, we're not doing this because crime is out of control. When you have a growing community, a community that is prosperous, the need for this is inevitable. There is a cost of doing business. There's a cost to keeping this county as great as it is."