For ten years the buildings and plazas of the Florida Capitol have been under a state of reconstruction - and may remain so for the foreseeable future.
Three separate renovation projects totaling $235 million as well as $73 million in repairs to underground garages have overlapped, with workers, equipment and visitors bumping into each other outside the Capitol tower and Senate and House office buildings for most of the past decade.
The end date for some projects is in sight: Redesigning the front plaza, building a security vestibule facing the Capitol courtyard, replacing more than 1,600 windows. But the garage project, which first turned the Capitol Complex into a construction zone ten years ago, must be done all over.
Now, visitors find the Capitol's east entrance closed. And the sidewalk leading to the west entrance is dug up, the doors inaccessible from the street and concealed by construction fencing, tape and equipment.
The east and west entrances are the only public entrances to the edifice where lawmakers conduct the people's business. It's the center of Florida's political universe when the Legislature holds its annual 60-day session to, among many other things, write a $100 billion-plus state budget.
That starts March 4.
The Department of Management Services, which acts as the state's property manager, said the vestibule should be completed and the east entrance reopened in time for the start of session, though pre-session committee hearings kick off in earnest in January.
People who want to speak with decision makers as the 2025 agenda is set must approach the Capitol from the west, from Monroe Street, then follow red arrows through a maze of cordoned off corridors to the east entrance, facing Duval Street and the Florida Supreme Court.
Work being done down the hall from Gov. Ron DeSantis' office has forced his staff to relocate a mile away to offices near the governor's mansion.
On the west side, the tiers of plazas and outdoor meeting spaces leading up a hill from the Supreme Court to the Capitol's doors is being remade. Known formally as Waller Park, where generations of kids visiting in school buses were greeted by the "dolphin fountain," a city-block length of steps is being replaced with elevators and ramps.
That redesign is to comply with accessibility requirements of the federal Americans with Disability Act. The project, originally scheduled for completion this year, should be finished by fall 2025.
Two other projects related to each other will run through 2028. Workers are installing a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for the complex, and another crew is removing shutters on 1,656 windows and installing tinted bulletproof glass.
In the meantime, the project that started all the reconstruction work in 2014 - plugging leaks in parking garages under the House and Senate office buildings - is the subject of a lawsuit. DMS said once again water is dripping on vehicles and puddles are found throughout the garages. The state wants contractors to pay for another round of waterproofing.
Here's what to know about a Capitol under reconstruction.
Waller Park/west entrance
Waller Park runs the length of Duval Street, from Madison Street to Pensacola Street, and was originally designed with hundreds of steps on the park's three sides leading up to a plaza and the doors of the Capitol tower.
The renovation includes replacement of steps with two elevators and ramps, and the park and plaza will be pocketed with shaded places for people to gather, along with photo opportunities for tourists at the popular "Stormsong" sculpture of frolicking dolphins and the Florida Heritage Fountain.
The project was to cost $45 million and be completed by the end of 2024, but according to DMS "unforeseen conditions expanded the scope" and the final price tag may be $53 million with completion set for fall 2025.
Capitol courtyard/east entrance
The Capitol courtyard is the staging point for three projects costing more than $182 million. The package includes $108 million for a new HVAC system, $61 million to replace all the windows at the Capitol, and $13.4 million to build a security vestibule at the east entrance.
Since summer the east entrance has been closed, fences erected and heavy equipment moved into place for the three projects. The vestibule takes in what was a dimly lit entrance hall and outside area that separated two wings of the 22-story building. It blends in with the exterior of the rest of the Capitol. Capitol Police officers and their metal detectors will move away from the Great Seal of the State of Florida into the vestibule. While its primary purpose is security, DMS spokesman Dan Barrow said, "it also provides additional queuing space for visitors." The vestibule should be open for the start of the legislative session.
Bullet-proof windows for where lawmakers meet
Money to replace the Capitol's 1,656 windows with dark, reflective, tempered, bulletproof glass was part of a push to update the building. The original windows installed in 1977 were not bulletproof and the shutters were rusting. (The vote to install bulletproof glass came while lawmakers approved making it easier to carry guns into public places.)
Barrow said DMS does not comment on specific security measures, as "to do so could compromise" them. But he did say that the windows, like the nearly 50-year-old HVAC system, had exceeded their useful service:
"The new modern system provides improved temperature control and efficiency throughout the Capitol."
Parking garages fix needs a do-over
All the upheaval on the campus of Tallahassee's most prominent building began in 2014 when DMS commissioned a structural analysis of the parking garages under the House and Senate office buildings. That found the main support girder appeared stressed. Capitol workers complained about water dripping on vehicles and puddles throughout the garages.
Both garages were closed. Then-DMS Secretary Chad Poppell gave the Governor and Cabinet an update in 2016 on the repair project, explaining that hollies planted when the Capitol was built in the 1970s had matured into 40-foot-tall trees, with root systems that wreaked havoc above and below the ground.
The department spent $75 million and four years to remove 154 trees, replace several underground support girders, rebuild concrete support walls and waterproof everything.
It didn't work.
DMS this month filed a lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Civil court against the repair project's construction manager and the company that did the waterproofing. The state seeks compensatory damages, attorney fees, court costs and more.
That case has been assigned for now to Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey. No further court date has yet been set. If it's eventually heard by a jury, that may not be till some time in 2027.