Alabama’s new State House is on track for an early 2027 opening as progress becomes evident next door to the current building at this point in the 2025 state legislative session.

State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville), chairman of the legislature’s joint committee overseeing the project, said he’s “very pleased” with the progress, that bids are about 90% complete – and the project is running roughly $5 million under budget. Givhan interviewed with Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” program on Friday night. 

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“Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) is managing this, and they’ve done, I think, a great job so far. They’ve helped tamp down the cost. We’ve had to rework some bids… RSA had a more aggressive calendar. Some people say, ‘Hey, you’ve been delayed in your construction.’ Not the Senate, not the House – we had more I think. You know, the goal was to be available to go in for the next quadrennium… So those of us that are serving now, you know, unless we’re re-elected, are not going to be able to serve in this new state house, from our perspective.”

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Givhan credited RSA’s experience in commercial real estate for keeping costs in check. RSA earns its fee as a percentage of the deal and, as the state’s public pension fund manager, has a vested interest in ensuring fiscal responsibility. 

“There’s a lot of built-in natural savings in the way we’re handling this,” Givhan said.

Givhan stressed that the current pace was a calculated move to avoid untenable penalties and high liquidated damages. 

“So, we broke that down a little bit. So far, we’re 90% bid on the project, and we’re $5 million under budget. So that doesn’t happen often in the government world.”