New court building in works

The historic building that has housed federal courts in Coeur d’Alene for nearly 80 years has outgrown its usefulness.

This summer, the U.S. General Services Administration plans to select a site from more than 20 proposals to build a 40,000-square-foot courthouse in the city.

A spokesman with the agency said he can’t discuss details of the proposals. But the new court building will not be built in the same spot, said Bill Lesh, GSA’s regional public affairs manager.

All proposals the agency has received are on sites within city limits, Lesh said.

Mayor Sandi Bloem said she believes the GSA is committed to keeping the courts in Coeur d’Alene. She expressed little concern Thursday that the relocation of the courthouse would have a big impact on downtown businesses.

The Lake City Development Corporation, the city’s urban renewal agency, may be interested in acquiring the vacated courthouse building at Fourth and Lakeside, Bloem said.

“That space hopefully will bring people downtown however it’s used in the future,” she said.

Lesh said no decision has been made on what to do with the old building. Built in 1927, the courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is only one of two federal buildings in Idaho listed on the registry, according to the GSA.

Lesh said the aging building doesn’t meet the government’s technological or security demands.

The location – on a busy downtown corner with little parking and no setback – is also a concern, especially in the wake of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., in 2001.

An official with the U.S. Marshall’s Service, which provides security for the courthouse, said he couldn’t comment on the project.

Coeur d’Alene FBI Supervisor Don Robinson said he couldn’t discuss details of the project. But in general, new federal buildings are required to have a greater setback from the road, he said. It’s also desirable to have the buildings located outside of metropolitan areas, he added.

“You want better control of access in and out of the facility,” Robinson said. “Being right downtown, you just don’t get that.”

Though the Coeur d’Alene FBI office won’t be located in the new courthouse building, Robinson said they are “in and out of there with prisoners all the time.” He said it would be nice to have a more secure sally port – an area for loading and unloading prisoners.

The GSA’s solicitation notice describes the proposed building as having more than 40,000 square feet of office space for the courts and associated offices. The plans also call for secured parking for four vehicles and a sally port inside the building.

Lesh said GSA committees are reviewing several proposals to build a new courthouse within the city limits. He said the GSA plans to select a plan this summer and make a formal announcement in the fall.

The courthouse is scheduled to move into the new building in 2008.