Village of Valley Stream courthouse nearing completion on Rockaway Avenue

Officials said the completion date for the village’s new courthouse would be sometime in 2017, but that the progress of the project depends on the availability of village workers doing the construction.

“We’re in the homestretch,” said Mayor Ed Fare. “Everything’s where it’s supposed to be.”

The village purchased the 90-year-old building at 195 Rockaway Avenue, which once served as Village Hall, through eminent domain in 2011 at a cost of $800,000. Village employees are tasked with renovating it, but have often been pulled to tend to other tasks.

“The reason we don’t put a definite date on it, and never have, is because we use village employees to do the work,” said Tom McAleer, the village’s superintendent of buildings. “Say we wanted to be done in spring of ’17, but we get a bad winter. Everyone is going to be pulled out of there and they’re gonna go do snow removal. So that’s why it’s difficult to put a date on it.”

McAleer said he received the architectural drawings for the courthouse in November 2014. Workers have since installed sprinklers, heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, new sheet rock walls, and a handicap stair lift. The workers have also renovated the roof, bathrooms, and windows and have installed court personnel offices.

The auxiliary police, public safety, and code enforcement are already working out of the building and six court officers will be relocated from Village Hall when its fully ready to open.

The courthouse will host traffic court every Wednesday, Fare said, and that on select Tuesdays and Thursdays it would be designated for parking and quality of life legal issues.

McAleer said one of the purposes for buying the building was to bring more people into the downtown area, so local businesses can profit from the foot traffic.

The next phase of construction will be to install all the lights, complete mill and carpentry work, level the floors and install the carpet and furniture.

The current courtroom at Village Hall will be converted into a theater for movies, plays and book signings. Fare said the court at Village Hall already currently doubles as a theater and has a stage.

“Once the project is done and it’s up and running, people will forget that it was a work in progress,” Fare said.