ROCKFORD — A $32 million project that will revamp the shuttered Public Safety Building into a new Family Court Center got its ceremonial start on Tuesday as county and court officials swung sledgehammers through a first-floor wall.
The wall-breaking ceremony marks the long-awaited start of an effort to repurpose the Public Safety Building, which was built in 1974 and has sat empty for years after being vacated in phases. The former jail inside the building at 420 W. State St. has sat empty since July 2007, when the new Criminal Justice Center was opened just up the street at 650 W. State St. Rockford police then moved out of the building roughly eight years ago as they transitioned into three district stations.
Discussion about what to do with the county-owned building circled for years before plans for the Family Court Center were approved. The County Board approved the redevelopment, which will be led by Ringland-Johnson Construction, in November…