However, a site that seems to have been ruled out by the feds may still be in play--the unfinished Intel Corp. building. If chosen as the new courthouse site, that would cure several downtown headaches, not the least of which is the skeleton of a half-finished building in the city's western skyline. That possibility, though, seems to be a long shot.
Neil Landers of the General Services Administration says the three finalists, on a list that remains fluid, are the block bordered by Second, Colorado, Third streets and Congress Avenue; the block bordered by Third, Guadalupe, Fourth and San Antonio streets; and the block bordered by Seventh, Trinity, Eighth and Neches streets.
The first site is the home of the Austin Children's Museum and the second is slated for the Austin Museum of Art. Officials of both museum's have expressed concern that their properties being considered. The third site includes a parking lot and has no development plans.
The current courthouse at 200 W. Eighth St. is inadequate for its needs, Landers says. "It's woefully too small," he says. The new courthouse would be about 200,000 sf.
Landers tells GlobeSt.com that he scratched the site of the unfinished Intel Corp. building off his list after being told that the seller didn't want to break up the four parcels that sit on several blocks. "We don't need that much," Landers says. He says a representative of Trammell Crow Co., which is marketing the site for Intel, said there was a better chance to sell the whole thing at once.
Jamil Alam, the Trammell Crow principal handling the Intel property, tells GlobeSt.com, that he "will take a look at anything." Alam says he sent a brochure to Landers, but didn't hear back from him. Alam says he placed a call yesterday to Landers.
The Intel site is roughly bounded by Sixth, San Antonio, Fourth and Rio Grande streets. The footprint is a total of 220,000 sf, Alam says.
Should the courthouse go there, it would fill that spot with a stable, albeit non-property tax paying, resident. It adds another element to the nascent public-private nature of the area between Sixth Street and Cesar Chavez. The area's already slated the new Austin City Hall, Austin Museum of Art, the home of Ballet Austin and the 220-unit AMLI Downtown apartments. The two-building Computer Sciences Corp.'s anchor to the district already is in place.
Landers says the government also ruled out a spot between the Pickle Federal Building at 300 E. Eighth St. and the Homer Thornberry Judicial Building, which sits behind the federal building The space between the buildings is not big enough to give the new courthouse a 50-foot setback, as required by law.
Once a preferred site is chosen, the owner will be offered what Landers calls fair market value for the property. Factors on determining fair market value include an appraisal by a private appraiser, which is reviewed by a GSA appraiser.
Landers says he doesn't have much room to negotiate, considering he's starting at fair market value. If the seller declines the offer, the case would go to court under federal eminent domain regulations and the court would set the property value.
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