Search begins for federal courthouse location in Hartford
HARTFORD — The search for a location for a new federal courthouse in Hartford has been launched after the estimated $270 million project got a significant funding boost from the U.S. Congress a year ago.
A notice obtained by The Courant that has been sent to real estate brokers and others said federal officials are looking for potential sites within Hartford. The notice did not limit the sites to downtown Hartford.
The U.S. General Services Administration said that it was looking for a site between two and five acres for a building that would be about 281,000 square feet in size.
The new courthouse would replace the nearly 60-yearold court within the Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Hartford. A new courthouse has been discussed for years, and in 2020, the courthouse was listed as the top one needing replacement across the country.
A groundbreaking could still be several years away.
Paul Hughes, a spokesman for the GSA in Boston, said Friday that the search is still in the early stages, even before detailed proposals. The GSA, he said, is trying to get a sense of what the options are in the city.
The GSA is only seeking basic information about potential sites and that this “is the start of a complex process and is subject to Congressional authorization and availability of funds,” Hughes said.
More information can be
obtained by emailing Sara Massarello at the GSA in Boston at sara.massarello@gsa.gov. The “requests for expressions of interest” are due by Jan. 31.
A year ago, $135 million was earmarked for the project and is just the first appropriation that would be needed to finance the new courthouse. The funds also would have to be authorized to be spent on the project.
Connecticut’s Congressional delegation has been a strong advocate for the new courthouse. Sen. Richard Blumenthal last year said the existing courthouse, part of the Ribicoff complex, had outlived its “sell-by” date. A new facility would bring judicial civil and criminal operations into the 21st
century, Blumenthal said.
On Friday, U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st, said he would continue to push for funding for the project.
“Hartford rightfully deserves a new courthouse,” Larson said, in a statement. “I will continue to advocate for this new courthouse and the funding that’s needed. I look forward to working with GSA, city leaders and ultimately the builders to see this project through.”
Construction of a new courthouse is seen as needed to tackle significant, ongoing security, space and building condition problems, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, has said.
Prisoner movement is through public corridors and through public entrances of each courtroom because the layout of the building does not allow for separation of public, prisoner, judge and staff movement.
The sally port where prisoners are transported to and from the court isn’t big enough. The location of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in the building are also a problem, the office said.
The existing courthouse now has eight courtrooms and 11 chambers, many of which do not meet modern size standards. A new courthouse would have 11 courtrooms and 18 chambers for 18 judges.
If a new courthouse is built, it is likely the Ribicoff building, built in 1963 named after a former governor and U.S. senator in 1980, would still be used for a consolidation of federal offices.