Columbus is getting ready to bring the wrecking ball to a prime downtown block so it can put up a brand-new Franklin County Municipal Court building. The four-story James A. Karnes Building at 410 South High Street, along with the small Dorrian Commons park beside it, is slated to come down to clear space for an eight-story courthouse with an estimated price tag of roughly $300 million. City leaders say the new complex will pull together courtrooms and administrative offices that are currently scattered in the aging municipal court building across the street.
As first reported by Columbus Business First, city staff filed paperwork this week to kick off demolition and pegged the project at about $300 million. A concept package submitted to the Downtown Commission outlines an eight-story, roughly 340,000-square-foot facility that would house courtrooms, clerk services, probation offices, court security and a Columbus Police workspace, with renderings by Moody Nolan and AECOM, Columbus Underground reports.
Site and purchase history
The project site sits at the corner of South High and East Mound; the Karnes Building's official address is 410 S. High St., according to the county's building page on Franklin County.
City documents show Columbus closed on the purchase of the Karnes Building and Dorrian Commons Park on Nov. 1, 2024, and agreed to a temporary lease-back so county staff had time to move out, according to City Council records.
Timeline
City planners have told reviewers they hope to begin demolition in March 2026, clear the site by mid-2026 and start construction later that year, with an opening targeted around 2030, Adam Robins told The Columbus Dispatch. The project is funded in part by a 2019 voter-approved bond issue and by city capital budget allocations included in 2024, WOSU reports.
Design and public impact
Renderings by Moody Nolan and AECOM show a glass-heavy façade, a third-floor sky bridge connecting to the county complex and space for a restricted underground parking level, Columbus Underground reports. Planners have also identified trees, memorial stones and fountain pieces from Dorrian Commons for possible salvage during demolition, a detail the Downtown Commission is expected to weigh as the proposal advances toward formal approvals.
Public hearings and Downtown Commission review sessions are on deck before demolition contracts are awarded, and neighborhood groups have already raised concerns about losing Dorrian Commons altogether. For more background on the site and on the court's current home across High Street, see the city's planning records and the county building page linked above.
