PORTLAND, OR—County officials took a step Tuesday toward building a new Multnomah County Courthouse rather than renovating the aging courthouse in downtown Portland.

Following a meeting and a slide presentation, the Board of Commissioners unofficially endorsed a recommendation to let staff spend the coming year assessing how an entirely new courthouse project—at a different site—could come together, according to a report in The Oregonian.

In doing so, the commissioners also tabled the renovation option, which has remained in the mix for decades as successive board's wrestled with ways either to replace or refurbish a century-old courthouse that lacks seismic bracing and modern mechanical and electrical systems.