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SALT LAKE CITY — When Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill first learned that the county would finally be able to build a new office building for his staff, the first person he wanted to call was his old mentor.
Former County Attorney David Yocom was, afterall, the one who knew the perfect place would be adjacent to the downtown Matheson Courthouse.
"This is a 30-year, overnight success. This was all started by David Yocom," Gill said. "As my mentor, it is absolutely one of the most meaningful moments in my life to have the opportunity to finish what he started."
Yocom joined Gill, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and County Council Chairman Max Burdick Thursday as they celebrated the groundbreaking of not one, but two new district attorney offices — one downtown and another in West Jordan.
"It's a dream come true for me. I never thought it would happen," Yocom said.
For three decades, county officials have wrestled with funding the project and finding appropriate locations for the new facilities so the county would no longer have to lease its office space for the district attorney staff.
The council issued a $33 million bond for the new office space in 2010, but the project stalled after the county purchased a different downtown location, 600 S. State, but then later sold it after deciding parking would be inadequate.
In 2014, the county was then able to purchase a 3-acre parcel next to the courthouse, the northeast corner of 500 South and Main Street, from a real-estate arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for about $9 million.
That's where the 113,000-square-foot, five-level downtown office building will land, slated to open in February 2018.
The second office — built to accommodate the growing population and to serve the southwest part of the county, McAdams said — will be built on county property in the same complex as the courthouse at 8080 S. Redwood Road.
The two-level, 28,000-square-foot West Jordan office is estimated to open in June 2017.
The two facilities are budgeted to cost $64 million.
"Taxpayers will see a $13 million savings over 30 years as a result of our decision to own this building," McAdams said, noting that the county will no longer have to rent its district attorney office space. "And not to mention, the proximity to the courthouse will save time and help our attorneys work effectively as they do their job of keeping people in Salt Lake County safe."
Gill called the new offices a "down payment on a 50-year footprint" to ensure a robust criminal justice system in Utah's largest county, where 60 percent of all of the state's criminal prosecutions are handled.
"Over the next 20 years, we're going to have 1 million more people, not just in Utah, but in Salt Lake County. That's going to put a pressure, a demand on the district attorney's office, so we are building ourselves for that future growth."
