[ Photographed Above: In March 2010, the General Services Administration announced the location of the new federal courthouse to be constructed in Greenville. The plan is to build a 12-story, 204,000-square-foot courthouse on what is now a parking lot across from the Greenville County Courthouse on East North Street. ]
There’s good news and bad news when it comes to plans to build a new federal courthouse in downtown Greenville.
The good news is Greenville has been moved up a spot on the government’s priority list to fifth.
The bad news is Congress has set no money aside for construction.
Plans call for a new federal courthouse to be built across from the Greenville County Courthouse.
The U.S. Judicial Conference moved Greenville up the list after considerations such as court traffic and security were weighted differently. Cities that dropped down the list can appeal, but Vicki Cram, a lobbyist for Squire Patton Boggs, told Greenville City Council members those appeals are unlikely to be successful.
Talk of a new federal courthouse in Greenville started in the late 1990s. Plans call for the new courthouse to include the district courts, U.S. Probation and the U.S. Marshals Service. There would also be space for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the federal public defender to use.
The existing Haynsworth Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on Washington Street would house the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Bankruptcy Court and others.
