SAN FERNANDO : April Reopening Planned for Damaged Courthouse

The courthouse in San Fernando, damaged extensively in the January earthquake, will reopen in April, Superior Court officials said as bidding began Monday on the first phase of a multimillion-dollar rebuilding job.

Officials had hoped that the four-story building would reopen by March, but problems with federal disaster officials and insurance adjusters pushed the target date back about six weeks, according to Judge Judith Ashmann, supervising judge of San Fernando Superior Court.

Virtually every part of the 11-year-old courthouse was damaged in the Jan. 17 quake. At first, officials with the county’s Internal Services Department, which maintains county buildings, were not sure the building could be salvaged. Repair estimates are from $9.5 million to $13.5 million.