Jun 2, 2016 2 min read

District Judge Robert Redlinger will be wielding his gavel in a new location this summer.

Washington County commissioners Thursday approved a lease with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank for Magisterial District 27-1-01 at 90 W. Chestnut St., Washington, effective Aug. 1.

According to the court administrator’s office, the building was formerly known as Millcraft Center. A loopnet.com website dated February 2015 said the building is under new ownership.

The county’s lease for Redlinger’s office in the Stewart Building on East Maiden Street between South Main and South College streets expires at the end of July. Washington County Court Administrator Patrick Grimm asked the board of commissioners to enter into a seven-year lease with four five-year renewal options. The lease for the second-floor office will begin Aug. 1 through July 31, 2023, at a yearly rental of $18 per square foot for 4,555 square feet including utilities and cleaning with a 25-cent per square foot annual increase.

The new office is served by three elevators and has a station for a security guard in the lobby, and it will gain 1,368 square feet. “It is a better deal,” said Randy Vankirk, county purchasing director, calling Redlinger’s current quarters “very cramped.”

The county was renting office space for Redlinger at 75 E. Maiden St. from the Andrew G. Uram Family Partnership.

With jurisdiction in the City of Washington and North Franklin Township, Redlinger’s office is the busiest of the 11 magisterial offices in the county. There were 7,028 cases filed there last year, 824 of which were criminal prosecutions. A magisterial office also handles civil matters, including landlord-tenant complaints, and summary citations.

The office collected $639,339 in total revenue last year in fines and costs, distributing to the state $331,898, to the county $147,057 and $160,384 to the two municipalities.