Norfolk City Officials Opposes Courthouse Plan
By Tim Mcglone, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Jan. 12–NORFOLK — City officials said Wednesday they oppose the federal government’s newest proposal to build an addition to the Walter E. Hoffman U.S. Courthouse.
The U.S. General Services Administration floated the idea of taking a one-block stretch of Monticello Avenue at a public meeting Tuesday night. It is one of four options under consideration for a 200,000-square-foot addition to the historic courthouse on Granby Street.
Mayor Paul Fraim said Wednesday the first he’d heard of the Monticello Avenue plan was reading about it in The Virginian-Pilot on Wednesday morning.
“No one has seriously discussed, or even casually that I’m aware of, closing Monticello Avenue,” he said. “We would oppose that.”
The federal government’s options are to build the annex on sites north, south, east and west of the existing building.
The federal government is seeking to appease all interested parties but has run into opposition on each proposal, particularly among residents and business owners of 500 Granby St., the government’s preferred site on the south end. Formerly the Showcase Building, it was renovated into 24 condominiums and a restaurant/sports bar.
The 1930 s-era Art Deco courthouse, with its intricate limestone carvings and marble walls, is on the federal register of historic buildings. Court officials say they need more room to handle increasing case loads over the next 30 years and to improve security. Now, judges, employees, prisoners and the public all share most hallways. The estimated cost of the annex is $75 million.
Most of those who spoke about the project Tuesday night were residents or business owners of 500 Granby St.
Federal officials have all but ruled out the west site across Granby Street. Construction of a 31-story condominium/retail tower has just begun there. The agency also does not favor building north, across Brambleton Avenue, site of the Greyhound bus station. Officials said the site is in 100- and 500-year flood zones and the federal government is restricted from building in such areas when there are alternatives.
That leaves the south site — 500 Granby St. — and the east site — Monticello Avenue.
Norfolk Assistant City Manager Stanley Stein said Wednesday that he recalled a brief conversation with federal officials last year in which they brought up the idea of taking Monticello Avenue.
“They said, ‘How about if we close Monticello?’ I told them ‘no,’” he said. “I didn’t see that as realistic.”
Stein said he thought the idea was dropped.
“They didn’t tell me they were going to bring it up” at Tuesday’s meeting, he said.
Stein added, though, that he understands the agency’s desire to look at every conceivable option. It’s just not the option the city prefers.
“We would very much welcome and urge them to consider going to the Greyhound site and that if that failed then, with some reluctance, we would consider them going to the south,” he said.
A previous plan to give the federal government four of six lanes of Monticello Avenue for an annex that wraps around the courthouse was nixed because it lacked the necessary 20,000 square feet of land for the building’s footprint.
Stein cited serious problems with closing all of Monticello Avenue at Brambleton Avenue: It would cut off access to two parking lots that serve Scope and MacArthur Center as well as close a multi lane north-south corridor linking downtown and the residential and commercial areas to the north.
John Morrell, annex project manager for the General Services Administration, said at Tuesday’s meeting that he liked the idea of building east. An agency spokeswoman said Wednesday that she was unavailable to comment further, but she said she would forward questions posed to her to others in the agency. No response was received by the end of the day.
A decision on the site selection is expected by May. Public comments will be accepted until Feb. 1.
Comments can be e-mailed to the agency at r03.norfolk.annex@gsa.gov or mailed to U.S. General Services Administration, attn. John Morrell, project manager, Mid-Atlantic Region 3, 20 N. 8th St., 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
Reach Tim McGlone at (757) 446-2343 or tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com.
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