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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Ind. Courts - "Officials make progress to keep federal court in Terre Haute"

Howard Greninger of the Terre Huate Tribune-Star reports today in a story that begins:

The General Services Administration still is evaluating proposals for new Terre Haute locations for the federal offices that will move from the building at Seventh and Cherry streets, a GSA spokesman said Monday.

David L. Wilkinson, spokesman for the GSA, said Monday that awarding contracts for new locations of federal tenants remains a most important task for the government.

In March, 2006, the GSA published a notice saying it wants to lease about 12,500 to 15,400 square feet of space for the courts and other tenants.

“The progress is that we are currently evaluating proposals that have been submitted as new locations for those tenants,” Wilkinson said. “No anticipated decision date has been stated, as yet.”

The building has been identified as a security risk since the terrorist attacks of September 2001, prompting the need for a new federal court facility. The current federal building lacks set-back distances from vehicular traffic.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Indiana State University, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. General Services Administration to allow ISU eventually to obtain the building.

More than $6 million in federal funds have been secured for work on the building. In 2005, ISU officials estimated the total project at $18 million, with ISU to obtain more than $12 million in private funding to convert the building for use by its College of Business.

The GSA’s lease on the federal building, which includes the courts, expires in September 2009, however the federal building could be vacated by late 2008. The building is now owned by the U.S. Postal Service.

The tenants are the federal courts, a U.S. Marshal’s office, federal adult probation office and an FBI office. The Postal Service will continue to have space in the existing building, Wilkinson said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 5, 2007 09:07 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts