THOMASVILLE — Employees of offices that will move late this year from the cramped historic Thomas County Courthouse to new quarters in the Thomas County Judicial Center will be awash in space.

Visitors will enter a secure area at the main entrance, then walk into a lobby and atrium featuring a dramatic skylight.

A staircase and elevators will take visitors to the mezzanine and to three courtrooms and the district attorney’s office on the second floor.

Slatted steel bannisters topped by cherry wood will be installed on the front staircase and along the mezzanine.

“It will be two-way traffic here,” said Lyndall Knight, Thomas County government building/maintenance supervisor, demonstrating how visitors will pass through a metal detector at the lobby/atrium entrance.

Just inside the main entrance, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office security personnel will be housed in glass-enclosed quarters.

Voter registration is on the first floor, along with Probate Court, which will more than double in space to 3,000 square feet.

The office of the clerk of court will realize a dramatic space increase — from 2,000 square feet in the historic courthouse to 4,700 square feet in the new building. For a number of years, the office has been without adequate storage and vault space.

The office of the clerk of court, which is on the first floor, fronts on ceiling-to-floor windows that face Madison Street.

A long, secure corridor leads from the sallyport on the west side of the building. Elevators off the corridor will take prisoners to four holding cells on the second floor near three courtrooms.

The historic courthouse, built in 1858, could no longer accommodate county office functions. The building will be renovated/restored when offices move into the new structure.

In 2006, the Thomas County electorate approved a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax with $16 million revenue earmarked for the new building and the historic courthouse project.

The county commission office, which moved from the courthouse several years ago, will move back into the historic courthouse after renovation/restoration. It has not been decided which other county offices — now located elsewhere — will be housed there.

The historic courthouse has 16,000 square feet of space on three floors. The new building will provide 40,000 square feet on two floors.

The district attorney’s quarters will have eight offices, a general work area and a conference room.