The demolition of the former Woodbury County Jail in downtown Sioux City was completed by the deadline of the month of March.
A yawning gap is now present for the first time in almost 40 years when people look north across Seventh Street from the Woodbury County Courthouse.
Woodbury County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Nelson previously said demolition activities began on January 13, with the work to be done by the end of March.
The county board awarded the demolition contract to Lieber Construction of North Sioux City, at a cost of $518,418, for the project that had been estimated to cost $1.1 million.
The former jail was built at 407 Seventh Street in 1987.
After years of mechanical and other problems over the decade of the 2010’s that would have cost millions of dollars, the county board pursued building a new jail on the city’s northeast edge.
The original cost of the jail measure passed by county residents in a 2020 bond issue was $54 million. After many delays pushed the opening back to September 2024, the cost ballooned to $69 million.
