Dallas County plans $26 million admin building to consolidate offices, accommodate growth

Dallas County officials broke ground this month on a new home for county offices and departments including the assessor, treasurer, recorder and Board of Supervisors.

The new Dallas County Administration Building is expected to be complete in September 2024 in Adel, according to the county's website for the project. The 54,000-square-foot, two-story building will be at the corner of Court Street and Nile Kinnick Drive South — on the north side of Adel Square — at the site of the former Dallas County Sheriff's Office.

The former sheriff's office was demolished this summer. It moved to the new jail that was built on the eastern edge of Adel along Highway 6.

According to a news release from the Dallas County Board of Supervisors, the new administration building will be home to 10 county offices:

• On the first floor: assessor, treasurer and recorder’s offices

• On the second floor: Board of Supervisors, GIS, human resources, information technology, finance and operations, planning and development, and veterans affairs

The project is expected to cost $26 million. Dallas County plans to use $10 million of the approximately $18.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds the county received as part of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The county expects the remaining $16 million to come from its capital reserve fund.

With the new building, the county hopes to accommodate growth that has strained space in other buildings.

As Dallas County's population has grown, so too has the number of court cases handled at the county courthouse. The courts' needs spilled down from the third and fourth floors and pushed other county offices either down a floor or completely out of the courthouse to nearby buildings, according to the county.

The new administration building will consolidate the county's offices into one point for its citizens, give the courts more space, address security concerns of inmates in close proximity to people paying their taxes, applying for marriage licenses, paying license registration fees or waiting for an elevator, and address Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues, according to the county.

Phillip Sitter covers suburban growth and development for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at [email protected]. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dallas County plans $26 million administration building in Adel