The relatively quiet determination of the site for a new Chattanooga federal courthouse in 2024 is nothing like the near free-for-all that resulted in the selection of the current Joel W. Solomon Federal Building site on Georgia Avenue nearly 100 years ago.
In early 2023, the federal General Services Administration (GSA) said it was considering three sites: Eighth and Houston streets, the site of the current Chattanooga Lookouts stadium on Hawk Hill and the now largely vacant Tennessee Valley Authority property bordered by Market, 11th, Chestnut and 12th streets.
Last week, the GSA said it had whittled down its selection to the stadium site or the TVA complex. Days earlier in a joint opinion piece published on this page, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp said they believe the TVA site would be the better of the two.
We had said last year we believed the TVA site was easily the best pick of the three.