Note: This story was updated April 13 to clarify the current ownership and control of Hawk Hill and AT&T Field.
Chattanooga’s Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and Courthouse will be replaced at least a couple of blocks from its current 91-year-old site, but the federal agency responsible for building the new and bigger courthouse won’t pick the final site in Chattanooga until fall.
The General Services Administration, the federal agency that constructs and maintains most federal buildings, announced this week it narrowed the sites it is considering for building a 190,400-square-foot federal courthouse in Chattanooga to two downtown possibilities, both of which the current users said they won’t need for much longer.
The administration said its studies found no adverse environmental impact from building a new courthouse at either the TVA Chattanooga Office Complex at Market and 11th streets or at the AT&T stadium used by the Chattanooga Lookouts atop Hawk Hill near the riverfront. TVA said it no longer needs most of its 1.4 million-square-foot complex, and the Lookouts are planning to relocate to a new stadium on Chattanooga’s Southside.
Congress and the General Services Administration have authorized $218 million for the site acquisition, design and construction of a new federal courthouse in Chattanooga to replace the aging building on Georgia Avenue, which no longer meets accessibility and safety standards for federal court facilities.