Officials are moving ahead with a new Chattanooga Federal Courthouse at the Vine Street location, though Mayors Tim Kelly and Weston Wamp favor another site and the property is not for sale.
A recently completed Final Environmental Assessment (EA) pinpoints a location bounded by Vine Street, Fifth Street, Georgia Avenue and Lindsay Street.
There are eight parcels at the site, with much of the property owned by Unum. The insuror says the property is not for sale, though the government would be expected to exercise eminent domain.
Mayors Kelly and Wamp said they would rather see the huge new courthouse at the TVA Office Building site on Broad Street. It is now largely vacant and TVA is looking for a new use.
The General Services Administration did not begin focusing on the Vine Street location until last July, necessitating the supplemental EA.
The new courthouse would include approximately 190,701 square feet and accommodate 40 secured parking spaces, seven courtrooms, and nine chambers. The site is 4.1 acres.
The location comprises eight tax parcels. One parcel supports a multi-tenant office building and garages; one approximately 0.8-acre parcel is undeveloped and supports maintained lawn and limited numbers of trees; and most of the remainder of the Vine Street Site is utilized as surface parking, the report says.
The proposed project would replace the existing Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (Solomon Building), located at 900 Georgia Ave. It was constructed in 1933 and currently supports four courtrooms and three district judges, one senior district judge, and two magistrate judges. Bankruptcy Court operates nearby at the old Custom House on E. 11th Street.
Officials said, "A total of 115 unique commenters provided input during the public review. The vast majority of these comments supported the selection of the Vine Street Site for reasons that included accessibility; close proximity to the Hamilton County Courthouse, the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga (UTC), and existing law offices; and the savings in time and money associated with construction on a site that primarily serves as parking areas."
Officials said the Solomon Building, which was the final creation of famed local architect R.H. Hunt, is hampered by "the inability to meet the long-term operational needs of the courts, insufficient security and safety features, and inefficiency of court operations."
The GSA would be responsible for demolishing an office building and storage garage at the site.
The Carpenters Local No. 74 Union Hall office building, built in about 1941, currently has one vacant unit and four active tenants, including a title company, two commercial real estate companies, and an attorney group.
A report says, "Although the Carpenters Local No. 74 Union Hall is a rare example of an extant union hall, the only remaining association with its history the building retains is a UBC seal on the upper façade. The demolition of the interior spaces used by the labor union, including the meeting hall, ladies' lounge, and locker facilities, as well as significant alterations to the exterior of the building, have compromised its historic integrity and ability to convey its history as a labor union hall. In 1996, the TN-SHPO determined the building to be ineligible for the NRHP due to the extent of nonhistoric alterations. Although some of those alterations, including a 1960 addition to the rear of the building, are now more than 50 years of age, none of these additions have achieved significance in their own right and extensive additions from 1979 and additional alterations to the building since 1996 further detract from its integrity."
Work would start on the new courthouse in 2027 with the opening slated for 2030.