Milwaukee County’s long-running courthouse plan transitioned from proposal to commitment on October 1, when the County Board approved moving forward with an $812 million renovation of the downtown Courthouse Complex.
The vote gave formal direction to a project that had spent years in planning, design review, and public explanation, shifting the question from whether the county would proceed to how the work would be financed, staged, and carried out.
The approved plan followed one notable reduction from an earlier version. A proposed paned-glass entryway was removed from the final plan, cutting more than $45 million from the projected cost…