Austin’s Robbins Block, which is transitioning into a heating well and parking lot for the new jail and justice center, should be graded, filled and ready for future construction by the end of fall.

On Tuesday, the Mower County board accepted a low bid of roughly $62,000 from Austin-based Hansen Hauling and Excavating for the work to be done.

When that’s completed, the site will be left until next spring, when roughly 100 parking stalls will be paved for the new building, which is slated to open in September or October 2010.

Another portion of the Robbins area that currently resembles a small lake will also be filled, and that space could be used in the future for a new building.

County coordinator Craig Oscarson said if the human services department moves from the Oak Park mall to downtown — an issue that will be discussed more in coming months — the open Robbins area could be used for a two-story, 24,000 square-foot building to house the department.

But that’s a long ways off — human services still has two years left in their mall lease, and even if they do move downtown, it may be more efficient for them to take up space in the current justice center, which will of course have a few vacancies next year.

Oscarson said the department leases mall space for roughly $120,000 a year, and pays another $30,000 to $40,000 in utilities and maintenance.

He said moving into the current justice center would be the cheapest downtown choice now, but a new building could be cost efficient down the road because of energy and maintenance savings.

Whether human services moves into the current justice center or not, the building is still scheduled for a remodel after some of its occupants move out — both the city and county have agreed to chip in $800,000 for the project, which would begin in late 2010 or sometime in 2011.

In addition, Second Avenue Northeast is now open after being closed last week for jail and justice center construction, but that work cost slightly more than expected.

The road was ripped open to connect pipes from the geothermal heating well to the in-progress building.

But because the two connection points did not line up exactly, the work ran roughly $9,000 extra as the piping had to extend a bit further.

Oscarson said the county likely would have paid the same amount even if they knew about the misalignment earlier.

John Pristash, project manager with Knutson construction, said the whole well field has cost between $750,000 and $1.2 million.

Oscarson also said Tuesday that the new building is now projected to be closed off by mid-November, allowing crews to do interior work during the winter months.

Originally, crews planned to close off the building by the end of November, but moved that projection up to the beginning of the month as they made good progress.

Recent poor weather moved that target back a few weeks.

Once the few remaining window holes are filled in and the building sealed, the exterior will look almost exactly like it will when the building opens, Oscarson said.

He noted that the outer walls will still go through a spray wash and some aesthetic additions will be made at the end of the project.