After being delayed almost a year because of a contract between Samet Corp. and Guilford County derailed, the county has a new construction company joint venture working on the new headquarters for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department and a new timeline for the project – which is now predicted to be complete on March 7, 2026, just in time for the workers to kick back, open a beer and watch the ACC Tournament.

Of course, when it comes to construction schedules, sometimes hiccups occur – like, for instance, the contract dispute between the county and Samet Corp. in early 2023.

The county has just signed the new contract with the joint construction group and county documents include a detailed estimated schedule with key completion dates.

Sheriff’s officials and Guilford County Commissioners have been talking about the need to move the department’s administrative offices out of the Otto Zenke building in downtown Greensboro for right at a quarter of a century, so Sheriff Danny Rogers and his staff are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

If it is, the next big step is the demolition of the old jail in downtown Greensboro, which is projected to take about five months and be complete by July 27 of this year. Then the construction of the building and the preparation for the move is expected to be complete by December 13, 2025.  The relocation from the Otto Zenke building to the new offices will take about a month and should be finished by January 10, 2026.

The plan wisely calls for the demolition of the Otto Zenke building after, rather than before, everyone moves out. That will take about a month and the rubble will be gone by February 7, 2026.

Then the crews will put a parking lot where that building used to be, which is estimated to take a month.

And then it will be March 7, 2026, and the project will be complete.

Unless some problems come up in the process that is.