Federal and local officials cut the ribbon

MIDDLETOWN – Court has been held for months in the new U.S. District Court facility next to the Paramount Theater in Middletown, but Monday, a number of federal, state and local judges and a number of public officials welcomed the building with an official ribbon cutting.

Court in the northern portion of the Southern District of New York has been held in the past in Poughkeepsie, at the Stewart Industrial Park in the Town of Newburgh, at Middletown City Hall and in Port Jervis.

This new facility gives the court a permanent home, and while it is a magistrate’s court, it is hoped that one day it might be upgraded to a full federal court.

Federal Judge Martin Goldberg, who sits at the new courtroom, said is beats traveling downstate.

“You have people who have been transporting themselves and witnesses to both Pearl Street in New York City as well as to White Plains, and now, the courthouse has come to them,” he said. “I’m pleased that we can do it in my hometown.”

Congressman Maurice Hinchey said the opening of the courthouse in the Middletown Downtown Business Improvement District is a significant step forward for the city.

“Like the county’s motor vehicle office and the historic Paramount Theater, right next door to us, the new courthouse will help bring vitality and services back here to downtown Middletown,” he said. “This courthouse is another advancer in building the urban fabric of Middletown’s business district.”

The project, which was first given the green light in the early 1990s, ran into cost overruns over security issues, resulting in its completion being delayed by several years.