The new Santa Barbara County Superior Courthouse will be built using the Hayward Properties at 1025 Santa Barbara St. in Santa Barbara, court officials said Wednesday.

The 1.3-acre lot was appraised at about $7 million, according to court executive officer Gary Blair. He said the Hayward family signed off on the purchase but that the sale won’t be finalized until July, when the item goes before the State Public Works Board.

The $151 million, 97,266-square-foot courthouse will consolidate the criminal and traffic courts, and add jury deliberation rooms, a self-help center, a waiting room for children, a holding area for jail inmates and attorney/client interview rooms.

The Hayward property includes a parking lot and vacant buildings that were once Hayward’s furniture store, Karastan Carpet and Rugs and a dog grooming shop.

Court officials are also working on purchasing a parking lot adjacent to the existing Figueroa Division courthouse and a parking lot on the 1000 block of Garden Street for a “low-profile” parking structure.

Senate Bill 1407 initiated funding for the project in 2009, and a spokeswoman with the Judicial Council of California said construction should start by December 2014.

The county pitched an MTD property near the county’s Main Jail as an alternative site, but only because the state required two site options to consider the project, Blair said.

“It would make absolutely no sense whatsoever (to use that property),” he said, “but we wouldn’t get on the agenda if we didn’t have a backup.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.