Congress has approved more than $218 million to build the biggest new office building in downtown Chattanooga in decades, but none of the current sites being considered for the new federal building are being offered without some controversy.
During a public hearing Wednesday night on proposals for a new federal courthouse for Chattanooga, local residents voiced concerns about what could happen on each of the three sites being considered by the U.S. General Services Administration for the planned new federal courthouse.
“We’re very excited to start this project in Chattanooga,” Shawn Kelly, General Services project manager for the Chattanooga building, told several dozen people gathered Wednesday night to voice their views on the project. He said the endeavor, including site selection, design and construction, should take six or seven years. “It’s a long process, but one we know will have a long-term positive impact for Chattanooga.”
General Services is conducting public and environmental assessments of three sites to build a new 186,000-square-foot federal building that would replace the aging Joel Solomon building on Georgia Avenue and provide a bigger and better courthouse for the federal district court, U.S. bankruptcy court and federal prosecutors and public defenders.